A bunch of bands in the late-
70s downtown
Manhattan scene; four of them --
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks,
DNA, The Contortions (later known, amongst other names, perhaps including "Dickhead"
har-har-har, as
James Chance and the Contortions), and
Mars -- were on the
No New York compilation, produced by
Brian Eno. Imagine The
Stooges,
Velvets,
Albert Ayler, and
Captain Beefheart as the co-founders of
rock, and the co(n)founding took place at a meeting near a hot-dog vendor seven minutes ago on
Houston Street -- that's, perhaps, one definition of No Wave. The musics made, back then (and you can include slightly-later bands, like
Swans and
3 Teens Kill 4), were a nice uneasy-listening antidote to the creeping ennui caused by the homogenizing of
punk rock into a predictable, user-friendly genre/industry.
There are many famous (?) alumni: Lydia Lunch (Miss Teenage Jesus herself), composer Glenn Branca (of the Theoretical Girls; Sonic Youth's and Swans' roots are in Branca's early works), and Ikue Mori and Arto Lindsay (drummer and guitarist in DNA).