I just recently went to youtube and listened to the Velvet Underground for the first time. I can hear how the whole punk scene blossomed from their droning sound.
Well, on YouTube it may indeed sound like a 'droning sound' but there's a whole lot of innovative musicianship going on there that may be lost in the low-fi YouTube medium. Many modern artists from a wide variety of styles and backgrounds have cited them as being highly influential.
As to Punk being "droning", well, I suppose it's a matter of taste and perspective :-)