I don't think so. He always influenced me to listen to something else.
His influence was on other musicians. The saying goes that not many people bought a Velvet Underground LP but everyone who did started their own band.
Yes actually massively influential. David Bowie used to quip that while only a couple thousand people bought the first VU album when it came out all of them, including him, immediately formed bands. If the only influence Reed had was putting out the album that convinced Bowie there was an audience for his music (Bowie’s words) he’d be a huge influence. But he had a lot more influence than that, the whole depressing section of the rock catalog (aka “the good part”) has its roots in Reed.
“He always influenced me to listen to something else.”
So true