Also I find it rather ironic that you are accusing me of revisionist history in defense of a band that is famous for being almost completely unknown by both fellow bands and the record buying public until well after they were done. Make the case for a significant impact VU had prior the late 70s? After that it had a huge impact, but only within one stream of rock. If we consider the bigger picture, they were still obscure and had relatively minimal impact outside of a specific lineage of bands from then forward.

I don't buy the logic that VU over Horses because VU influenced Patti. (If we are to say that, then why not The Doors as well? And surely The Doors had more impact in their time as VU and arguably as much after their time. So then VU is still out in place of The Doors?) But the point is Patti took that influence to places VU (and Doors) didn't, and was able to reach people in ways VU couldn't which set up the CBGB scene to be more than a local hang and in turn American punk to blossom, laid the groundwork for 80s indie (through which The Smiths, REM etc played it forward), inspired generations of female musicians, pushed the marriage of poetry and rock ten steps forward, made the case for Nuggets type garage when its appeal was all but disappearing from rock, etc. It's not just about innovating or being the central influence. It's how the album spreads ideas, popularizes aesthetic approaches, influences musicians across scene lines and all these others factors too. Remember that if it wasn't for bands like Talking Heads and PSG (as well as championing by Bowie and others, and in turn how that steamrolled for future generations of bands to do the same, and it reach film audiences and so on) VU may have stayed a footnote to Transformer.