It was pretty much the same for me. I tracked down back issues of Avengers, had no knowledge of the story, and was blown away by it. I had known about the Guardians from their appearances in Defenders, which were also good.
I was lucky to find so many back issue back in 1982 -83 for great , cheap prices. I bought so many Spider Man, FF, etc in Manhattan at Forbidden Planet and other comic shops. At the times X-Men 95 to 135 had gone up in price.
Although I knew she died back in 73, Death of Gwen Stacey was still tough to read.
Meanwhile I was listening Bob Grant, Barry Farber & Howard Stern.