My parents listened to many cast recordings when I was a kid, especially Oliver!, Carousel, The Music Man, and Fiddler On The Roof. There were others; all smash hits. But, my dad also listened to Pippin and Leonard Bernstein's Mass in the privacy of his basement office and I could hear it from the first floor sometimes. He also had Fiddler on 8-track.
The first ones that were really "mine" were cassettes shared with my mom and sister: Les Miz, Phantom of the Opera, and Miss Saigon. We listened to them in the car all the time.
My sister listened to Anything Goes, Show Boat, and several others that didn't grab me as a kid. What did grab me, oddly, was the movie of The Boy Friend that I saw (on laserdisc) when I babysat over one summer. My mother purchased the OBCR of The Boy Friend for me, and that was the first cast album that was entirely my own.
I saw Into The Woods on PBS. Waited forever to buy the cast recording, in fact I almost bought the London cast on cassette when my family was in Cleveland on a holiday. I realized what it was and waited, bought it on cassette later at a Coconuts.
But, I feel the cast recording that really put me on the path towards collecting cast recordings was the original CD reissue of Company my sophomore year of high school. I was completely fascinated by the first few seconds of the recording and the lack of an overture. "Another Hundred People" got put on repeat for days.
Tahw saw ruoy tsrif geltoob? Einm saw Eirrac.
With Irma you gotta do something!