conventions, whether experimenting with the guitar and with reggae when it was taboo. why is he influential? where do you see his influence? you see his influence on people that were influenced like patty smith, rem, the strokes:you can see his influence on virtually anyone considered indy rock, punk rock the way he did tee-shirt challenges and things in different ways. he transcended music. one of the things that set lou reed apart, he was very politically active is he was more than music. steven tyler in his tweet referenced max us. it was a salon effect. it was a bar in new york city artists made into an idea factory. a lot of partying as well. lou transcended music. he would often say the music has to mean something. when it stops meaning something. when it s just about entertainment, it loses its value and becomes a commodity.