Regardless of what you might think of Patti Smith's music, it's well worth reading her book, Just Kids, her account of her life with Robert Mapplethorpe in the late 60s and early 70s in NYC. She's a great writer and her tales are very compelling. It's an amazing window into a time and place that was really the transition between post-WWII NY and the modern city.
I did get to see her open for the Grateful Dead once. That was a lot of fun.