I could be totally off with this comparison but I see Patti Smith as Lady GaGa of the 60s.

Both of them are idols of their time periods. Smith was highly influential in the punk rock movement, while Lady GaGa is an innovator of today’s music. From the novel and the NPR interview, I characterized her as a rebel. In the NPR interview she said how she would where dungarees to the beach rather than the normal bathing suit. Also from the interview she mentions the argument she had with her recording company over the album cover. She wanted to use the picture Mapplethorpe took of her for the cover of “Horse”; however the recording company thought her hair was messy and was incomprehensible for that time. In the end the public loved it and it became a famous iconic photograph. Patti Smith was rebellious but also a visionary. In the interview she mentions how her English teacher was teaching Moby Dick in an incomprehensible way.  She saw a way to teach her semi-literate class Moby Dick, better than her teacher and she did just that. And the most obvious was that she was a female in a rock and roll band something almost nonexistent before her. She was willing to express herself. I am sure we all know a bit about Lady GaGa. She is rebellious with the way she acts and dresses. Her music style is different than many other famous stars. She is a visionary who does not mind stepping out of the status quo to chase her dreams. I know that there are differences between the two and that my view could be totally off, but nonetheless, I believe that Patti Smith is the Lady GaGa of the 60s.