The Gynecologists were a

no wave No wave was an avant-garde music genre and visual art scene that emerged in the late 1970s in Downtown New York City. The term was a pun based on the rejection of commercial new wave music. Reacting against punk rock's recycling of rock and r ...

band based in

SoHo, Manhattan SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall (SoHo), and ha ...

. The band was founded in 1976 by composer

Rhys Chatham Rhys Chatham (born September 19, 1952) is an American composer, guitarist, trumpet player, multi-instrumentalist (flutes in C, alto and bass, keyboard), primarily active in avant-garde and minimalist music. He is best known for his "guitar orche ...

and artist Robert Appleton.Masters 117. Chatham was originally inspired to start a band when composer Peter Gordon took him to see

the Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band formed in the New York City neighborhood Forest Hills, Queens in 1974. Known for helping establish the punk movement in the United States and elsewhere, the Ramones are often recognized as one of t ...

for his first

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

concert. Chatham wanted to combine the

sound with the

minimalist In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-mi ...

compositions he was making. In addition to composing, he was the music director for The Kitchen. They added guitarist Nina Canal, who had little musical experience and bought a

Fender Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of double- cutaway electric guitar designed between 1952 and 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corpora ...

. Photographer Daile Kaplan, using the pseudonym "Heddy Van Dyke", became the band's drummer.Masters 118. Following the Gynecologists' first performance, Chatham left the group and joined a band named Arsenal so that he could focus on learning to play rock guitar. Kaplan was later replaced by

Jim Sclavunos James Sclavunos is an American multi-instrumentalist, record producer and writer. He is best known for his work as a drummer, having been a member of two seminal no wave groups in the late 1970s, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks and 8 Eyed Spy, both a ...

, whom the band knew from his work for ''NO Magazine''.

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

invited Chatham to contribute to his 1978 ''

No New York ''No New York'' is a no wave compilation album released in 1978 by record label Antilles under the curation of producer Brian Eno. Although it only contains songs by four different artists, it has been considered important in defining and docu ...

'' compilation, but Chatham missed their recording session. The Gynecologists' biggest performance was at a May 1978 festival with Theoretical Girls at

Artists Space Artists Space is a non-profit art gallery and arts organization first established at 155 Wooster Street in SoHo, Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1972 by Irving Sandler and Trudie Grace and funded by the New York State Council on the Arts ...

.Patrick Nickleson, ''The Names of Minimalism: Authorship, Art Music, and Historiography in Dispute'', University of Michigan Press, p. 157 The group disbanded shortly after, with Sclavunos joining

Teenage Jesus and the Jerks Teenage Jesus and the Jerks were an American no wave band, based in New York City, who formed part of the city's no wave movement. Background Lydia Lunch met saxophonist James Chance at CBGB and moved into his two-room apartment. She starte ...

and Canal co-founding Ut.

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gynecologists, The Musical groups disestablished in 1978 Musical groups established in 1976 Musical groups from New York City No wave groups Rock music groups from New York (state) 1976 establishments in New York City