[jeffnv]

I definitely consider myself a music buff. Here's my suggestion: start with what you love and explore the graph from there.

Consider an album a node in the great graph of music. The links to other nodes are plentiful and will likely lead to other things you love. Explore other artists on the same label, other groups composed of members of the group, other albums recorded in the same studio, etc.

Don't just listen to the music but get interested in the context, just like any work of art, the significance is often relative to the context in which it was created. Learn about the history of the members, read reviews, etc.

Learn an instrument, you don't have to be good, but a little knowledge of how to play some of your favorite music can really help to understand the craft.

Find some of those '500 best albums of all time' type lists and do my graph exploration for the ones that resonate with you. It's fine to not like everything but awareness of the really impactful landmark albums will help you understand the evolution of music. It can be interesting to learn about what an album is a _rejection_ of as much as it is a homage to.

tldr - bread first explore from what you already like