Although The Velvet Underground experienced only minimal commercial success during their time together, the band's willingness to explore taboo subjects in styles that ranged from rock and R&B to minimalism and experimental avant-garde inspired countless artists and led to the creation of alternative, underground, art rock, and numerous other subgenres of music. Both contemporaries of the band (David Bowie, Iggy Pop) and later generations of alternative artists (Sonic Youth, R.E.M., The Jesus and Mary Chain) continued the styles that the group introduced in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.