Ah! Yes … that must have been it, given I was just talking about Portishead, and my brain does weird things in conflating things when it’s just left to type spontaneously. 
Take Five - Dave Brubeck Quartet, followed by
Blue Rondo A La Turk, by the same group. These were Brubeck’s first forays into odd time signatures and they were mesmerizing. So much so, that Take Five (in 5/4) became the largest selling jazz single ever, and hit #25 on the Hot 100. It’s common now, but in 1959, it was riveting. Rondo, which alternates between 9/8 and 4/4 just pulled me right in.
The Girl From Ipanema - Jobim/Moraes It basically introduced Bossa Nova to American audiences when Stan Getz, and Joao and Astrud Gilberto cut a single in the 60s. It won a Grammy in 1965. Brazilian rhythms were mostly unknown in this country at that time, even though the song was preceded by Chega de Saudade by several years.
Kashmir - Led Zeppelin
Starman, by David Bowie. On TOTP.
Plenty of other songs were amazing when first encountered, including some already mentioned, but this was different again.
“Smells Like Teen Spirit” for me as well. I distinctly remember I was driving somewhere and it popped up on the local college radio station, KTCU, and I immediately wanted to hear it again and again and again.
Several songs have blown me away. Some of them are:
The Opening Theme to the Lion King Cartoon. I cried when I first heard it. It was majestic and moving, and my soul couldn’t hold all of it at one time.
One Million Fireflies by Owl City: This one made me cry too. Just beautiful. Childlike and wishful, the song made me think of children’s books and younger days.
Bohemian Rhapsody was shocking and groundbreaking. I loved it and it changed my perceptions and expectations of music.
Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars. Truly one of those works that gets into your mind and won’t leave you alone for at least a month. I was hooked on it for such a long time. Still am to some extent.
There are many others, since I have a wide field of tastes for music. Laurie Anderson, Klaatu, War of the Worlds by Jeff Wayne, anything done by Hans Reichel, Tuvan Throat Singing, The Mighty Wurlitzer Organ, and loads more. All unique, and all fell into my life like a landslide. Great Stuff.
“Smells like Teen Sprits” had an absolute jaw-dropping effect on me: I remember standing flabbergasted in front of the TV while my parents stood in the hallway yelling we were leaving… for a couple of minutes I wasn’t going anywhere.
Honorable mentions go to Beck:”loser”; Red Hot Chilly peppers:”give it away”; Blur :”Song 2” Beastie Boys: “Sabotage”; Urban Dance Squad:”Demagogue”; Rage against the Machine: “Killing in the Name”. Guns ‘n Roses:”Paradise City”. Fat Boy Slim:”right here, right now”. Some highlights of the soundtrack of my youth. Not the best, the ones that attached themselves to memorable stuff.
Enya’s “Caribbean Blue.” I’m not really into that kind of music, but, back in 1991, I thought it one of the most beautiful songs I had ever heard.
I remember the first time I heard “Inspection (Check One)” by Leftfield at some warehouse party. As the dreamy intro gave way to pounding bass and drums, I saw god and parts of the universe I’ve never seen before. I’m sure other substances contributed, but the music kicked me over the edge.
Electric Avenue by Eddie Grant. Several Dylan songs - Memphis Blues Again, Hurricane, Senor.
“Eight Miles High” by the Byrds, and a few months later, “Tomorrow Never Knows” by the Beatles. These two songs changed my thinking about what rock music could be. I was 14 at the time. From then on, I began searching-out rock music that had more substance than what came before.
I almost posted Starman, but it doesn’t quite mesh with the OP for me. It was more of a transitional song.
I was barely in my teens at the time, listening to Radio Luxembourg in my bedroom at night (when reception was good enough). That’s where I first heard it – first heard Bowie – I had to catch a bus to Workington to go to Rumbelow’s to order the record (which you had to do in those days). It took weeks for the record to arrive – and it was weeks after that before it became a hit. That’s why I have the picture sleeve, I guess.
So there were two things about Starman that were special for me. It was the first really grown up record I bought – a transitional song for me, as I said. And, Dammit, I was ahead of the curve with it. So it still has a special place in my heart.
j
Welcome to the SDMB!
It is a great place, something for everyone I think.
Is this the song you recommended? - The Danish String Quartet play's "Wood Works" - YouTube
For me it was KD Lang singing Hallelujah.
I know this song has been covered by everyone and their uncle and I like many of them but her rendition at the Juno Awards just knocked it out of the park and cemented that song in my mind as one of the best ever.
Certainly lyrically it is truly one of the best. Leonard Cohen was an amazing lyricist.
I honestly think you can not really appreciate this song till you have been soul-stomped by someone you love.
I remember hearing Billy Bragg’s “A New England” and being taken aback by how raw and bracing it sounded. It was just him and his electric guitar, sounding like a busker who was determined to change the world one street corner at a time.
More specifically a lover. A small but important distinction here.
Russlan and Ludmilla Overture, by Glinka
Turkish March in C, by M Haydn
“Guitar Town” – Steve Earle
Radetzky March, by Strauss Sr
“Molodyozhnaya”
“Gott mit uns” – Sabaton
The first was The Smiths - “A Rush and a Push…”. Certainly not one of their best songs, but intriguing enough to force me to listen to the rest of Strangeways… which then led to the rest of their music. So I essentially worked backwards, as Morrissey already was solo by the time I got into them.
The other was “Fake Plastic Trees“ by Radiohead. “Creep”, which originally was so over-played that it turned me off from them. But that song was not at all representative of their brilliance, and FPT pulled me back in.
“Journey To The Center Of The Mind” by the Amboy Dukes featuring Ted Nugent. Fuck Ted Nugent, but that song blew my mind and along with “Born To Be Wild” by Steppenwolf formed my taste in music to a large extent.
Pretty much anything that came off Meat Loaf’s debut album, “Bat Out Of Hell” (1977). I’d heard some good stuff before, including some of the best of the 1960s and early 1970s, but Loaf’s raw vocals along with Jim Steinman’s arrangements … baby, that’s music!!
-“BB”-
Lucinda Williams - Sweet Old World
If you’ve ever lost someone to suicide, this song will speak to you…