Conversation so far:
Did the group influence many people?
they have inspired several notable musicians, including Rush, John Lydon, Marc Almond, Graham Coxon, Luca Prodan, Mark E.
Smith, John Frusciante, Bruce Dickinson and Julian Cope.
When was the group popular?
Though the group have generally been commercially unsuccessful outside of early 1970s Italy.

Question: What type of music did they perform?
Self-contained rewrite: What type of music did theVan der Graaf Generator perform?