Although it only contains songs by four different artists, it has been considered important in defining and documenting the scene and movement, with the name "no wave" being influenced by that of the album according to some accounts.

[1][2] Early in 1978, New York's Artists Space hosted a five night underground no wave music festival, organized by artists Michael Zwack and Robert Longo, that featured ten local bands; including Rhys Chatham's The Gynecologists, Communists, Glenn Branca's Theoretical Girls, Terminal, Chatham's Tone Death (performing his composition for electric guitars Guitar Trio)[3] and Branca's Daily Life (with Barbara Ess, Paul McMahon and Christine Hahn).

[5] Impressed by what he saw and heard, and advised by Diego Cortez to do so, Eno was convinced that this movement should be documented and proposed the idea of a compilation album with himself as a producer.

"[6] In 1979 Eno stated in his now famous lecture, "The Studio as Compositional Tool", that, "On 'Helen Thormdale' [sic] from the No New York album, I put an echo on the guitar part's click, and used that to trigger the compression on the whole track, so it sounds like helicopter blades.

[12][13] Critic Richard C. Walls, writing for Creem, described No New York as the most "ferociously avant-garde and aggressively ugly music since Albert Ayler puked all over my brain back in – what?