"No Wave itself sprung up namelessly circa 1977 as a reaction to punk, new wave, and New York City itself. One of No Wave's more outspoken progenitors, Lydia Lunch famously dissed punk as no more than "sped-up Chuck Berry riffs". James Chance has said that "No Wave" came from the name of the compilation, but it's also supposedly first coined by the Soho Weekly News, the "no" turning "new wave"'s glossy dance party into nihilistic shorthand. Whatever the proper christening date, Eno was taken by the scene and compiled and produced No New York, which featured four tracks each from four bands-- James Chance and the Contortions, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, Mars, and DNA. Eno recorded it lo-fi and cracked to fit with the bands' on-stage ravages. In the original pressing, the lyrics were hidden on the inside of the record sleeve, so you had to take the sleeve apart if you want to sing along. Stylistically, the bands scowled through a paranoid blitz of spastic free-jazz, art noise, jarring vocals, anti-melody, sweaty sexuality, shredding guitar, a technically adept amateurism, and Dadaist deliveries that fucked with disco (check out DNA's synth) and funk to create a sort of mangled punk avant-garde."

- Brandon Stosuy, Pitchfork