Hi,
20th century only ... and this is not easy ...
Frank Zappa - one of the best rock composers ever if we would only have enough guts to listen to it and realize that we're hearing a ... concept on top of another ... and sometimes it sounds dissonant to our melodic/rnr ear ... over the years the music has mellowed a little and is more accessible ... must see is Zappa plays Zappa. It's excellent and end of conversation.
Mike Oldfield and Vangelis - Both are two of the foremost composers of our time, if we were not so stuck on our popularity express and our radio favorites. Their catalogue and work keeps improving, and if you have not heard "El Greco" or anything recent by Mike Oldfield, you would not have any idea how far these guys are going and have gone. But it is not "popular" crap or rap! So if you like loops and cheap stuff ... don't bother!
Igor Stravinsky - Enough said.
The only way you can appreciate this is if you take a look at music from a higher aspect than just radio or top ten or popular music ... there is way too much out there that deserves mention that will not be listended to because of ear-tuning and clarity ... if you are not used to it, it will be hard for you and that is as simple as that ...
As an example a friend of mine was listening to me blare out Ozric Tentacles and he liked it and in the first 5 bars said ... nice guitar ... and ... 5 bars later said ... nice beat ... but 10 bars later he fel out of it ... where's the lyrics? ... and now you know that this is conditioning and then some ... that person could not even hear "music" ... per se.
Because of similar situations, America will always have a hard time creating a master that will stand up to time, and folks like Frank Zappa will not get the credit they deserve ... and until the day that radio and the likes of Sirius and XM stop being conglomerate kissers and be allowed to actually play music ... the chances of you and most of us listening to anything else that has a lot more to offer, even if it were just classical music related -- which already is not even supported as much ... anywhere across the country but NY and SF ... the chances of an American musician getting bigger than BB King, or Brittany Spears ... or Bruce Springsteen ... are almost nil.
In the age of "world" this and that ... Americans are making it a point to make sure that no other music gets heard here ... it's way too ethnocentric for my tastes sometimes.