Great idea, John. This is more or less what I was trying to do with my "What was the first BEAT CD or LP you ever bought?" thread, and you were the only person who replied.
Since my post in that thread is similar to what you're asking for here, I'll copy and paste it to get this party started. Hopefully more people will join in this time!
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A native of the USA (San Diego, California, to be exact), I only just "discovered" the world of Italian films and film scores about 10 years ago. At the time, I was working in a hip little family-owned video rental store which had a massive collection of rare and obscure videocassettes (the type you'd never see in a commercial chain store). Part of that collection consisted of about a zillion horror films from all over the world, and that's how I originally came to know and love Italian horror films (and their soundtracks!). I eventually branched out and explored many other wonderful Italian film genres (such as sci-fi, sexploitation, giallo, western, peplum, etc.) , but it was horror that originally got me hooked.
The first BEAT CD I ever purchased was BEAT Records CDCR 24, the double-header featuring Fabio Frizzi's Paura Citta Paura Nella Città Dei Morti Viventi (1980) and Giuliano Sorgini's The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue (1974). I was absolutely blown away when I listened to it, because it was unlike any other music I'd ever heard before. It was one of those exciting, revelatory moments when you realize that there is another whole world of music out there to explore, just when you thought you'd heard it all. Of course, thanks to the Italian film score labels that are working so hard to preserve and produce this excellent music for us all to enjoy, I'm able to continue to making new discoveries all the time.
