krautrock...Bowie in Berlin etc etc.

You could have a 'music that inspired' list for current bands.
Arctic Monkeys wear theirs on their sleeves so thats easy, but it might take real rocksnobs to make up a list for, say, Jamie T (Libertines, Streets, Blur, Specials, and on back to 70s, 60s and beyond - don't think I could do it on my own).

What would the definitive High Street Krautrock guide look like I wonder? First Neu! album, something (but what?) by Can, Cluster, Tangerine Dream, Faust and Kraftwerk maybe.

1. Massive Attack - Blue Lines
2. Portishead - Dummy
3. Aim - Cold Water Music
4. DJ Shadow - Endtroducing...
5. Genaside II - Return of The Redline Evangelist
6. Tricky - Maxinquaye
7. UNKLE - Psyence Fiction
8. Sneaker Pimps - Becoming X
9. Morcheeba - Big Calm
10. Moby - 18

Ok, so maybe not everyone would class these as pinnacles of the genre. But as a good introduction to the genre, you can't go wrong with these.

By the way, I'm classing trip hop as being that slightly laid back electronic / hip hop influenced pop music with a tendency towards strings, samples and would sound great on weed in a bedroom somewhere on a council estate in Bristol.

I think that rule applies to all of these.

The Stooges - The Stooges/Raw Power

Velvet Underground - White Light White Heat/Quine Tapes

Kick out the Jams - MC5

Nuggets Vol 1

New York Dolls - New York Dolls

Goodbye Nashville Hello Camden Town: A Pub Rock Anthology

it's the map of the London Underground using genres and bands instead of lines and stations. Works very well!

http://www.theagriculture.com/images/time_sensitive/underground.gif

1. Yes - Close to the Edge
2. Genesis - Foxtrot
3. VdGG - Still Life
4. Pink Floyd - Wish you were Here
5. Gong - Angel's Egg
6. Camel - Mirage
7. National Health - Of Queues and Cures
8. Gentle Giant - The Power and the Glory
9. King Crimson - Red
10.Henry Cow - Unrest

Start with the Usual Suspects, bring in the more psychedelic faction then finish with the head-bursters!! Lovely!

1) HQ
2) Stormcock
3) Bullinamingvase
4) Valentine
5) Flat, Baroque & Beserk
6) The Unknown Soldier
7) Lifemask
8) Work of Heart
9) Death or Glory
10) Come Out Fighting Genghis Smith

Damned - Damned Damned Damned
Sex Pistols - Spunk and/or Never Mind The Bollocks
The Clash - The Clash
Stiff Little Fingers - Inflammable Material
Undertones - Undertones
Television - Marquee Moon
Ramones - Ramones
New York Dolls - New York Dolls
Buzzcocks - Another Music In A Different Kitchen
Jam - In The City
Ian Dury - New Boots & Panties
X-Ray Spex - Germ Free Adolescents

Start there, and then explore the catalogues of the above and others

Excellent suggestions. Any other sellable sub-genres much appreciated.

These are of course soundtracks that sound great, even out of the context of the film.

1. Ennio Morricone - The Mission
2. James Newton Howard - Blood Diamond
3. Badly Drawn Boy - About A Boy
4. Craig Armstrong - Plunkett & Macleane
5. Danny Elfman - Corpse Bride
6. Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova - Once
7. Jonny Greenwood - There Will Be Blood
8. Mogwai - Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait
9. Tom Waits & Crystal Gayle - One From The Heart
10. Various Artists - Eagle Vs Shark

1. Blur - Modern Life Is Rubbish
2. Gorillaz - Demon Days
3. Damon Albarn & Einar Orn Benediktsson - 101 Reykjavik
4. Graham Coxon - Love Travels At Illegal Speeds
5. Blur - Parklife
6. Blur - Blur
7. Graham Coxon - Happiness In Magazines
8. Afel Bocoum, Damon Albarn, Toumani Diabate & Friends - Mali Music
9. Gorillaz - Gorillaz
10. Blur - 13

1. Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
2. John Coltrane - Giant Steps
3. Bill Evans - Everybody Digs ...
4. Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers - with Thelonious Monk
5. Alice Coltrane - A Monastic Trio
6. Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um
7. Sun Ra - Space Is The Place
8. Pharaoh Sanders - Black Unity
9. Ornette Coleman - The Shape Of Jazz To Come
10. John Coltrane - A Love Supreme

1. Joe Gibbs/the Mighty Two - African Dub, All-Mighty, Chapters 3 & 4
2. King Tubby and Friends - Dub Gone Crazy (Vol.1)
3. Tommy McCook & the Agrovators - King Tubby Meets the Agrovators at Dub Station
4. Jimmy Radway & the Fe Me All Time Stars - Dub I
5. The Techniques - In Dub
6. Yabby U - King Tubby's Prophesy of Dub
7. Lee Perry - Super Ape
8. Augustus Pablo - El Rocker's
9. Joe Gibbs & the Professionals - No Bones for the Dogs
10. Harry Mudie meet King Tubby's - In Conference, Vol.1

1. Joe Harriott - Abstract
2. Mike Westbrook Orchestra- Citadel/Room 315
3. Ian Carr/Don Rendell Quintet - Dusk Fire
4. Amancio D'Silva - Integration
5. John Surman/John Warren - Tales of the Algonquin
6. Graham Collier Septet - Deep Dark Blue Centre
7. Neil Ardley - Greek Variations
8. Henry Lowther - Child Song
9. Mike Taylor - Pendulum
10. New Jazz Orchestra - Déjeuner sur L'herbe

Just pondering what a list of 60s British-based female singers would look like (Sharon Tandy, Billie Davis, Sandie, Dusty etc.) until I remembered an alarming gap in the CD compilation market.
Why isn't there a 60s Kiki Dee compilation?
She recorded about 25-30 tunes (that's one CD) and a whole host of foreign language recordings (that's volume 2!).
Anyone from Ace or Cherry Red out there?

Ten disc introduction to Hip Hip

1. A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory
2. Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
3. De La Soul - 3 Feet High and Rising
4. Eric B & Rakim - Follow the Leader
5. Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five - The Message
6. Nas - Illmatic
7. N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton
8. Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
9. Run-D.M.C. - Run-D.M.C.
10. Wu-Tang Clan - Enter the 36 Chambers

1. Nikola Kodjabashia - "Reveries of the Solitary Walker"
2. Nikola Kodjabashia - "The Most of Now"

erm ... I can't think of any others. But those two are really good.