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The Stimulators were an American punk rock band from New York City. Although they have a limited discography, they are notable for being consistently cited as an important transitional band between the late-1970s New York City punk rock scene and New York hardcore, and for being the musical entry point for future Cro-Mags founder Harley Flanagan.

Denise Mercedes grew up in Manhattan and Queens, New York City, raised by a longshoreman father who played flute and piano. Teaching herself to play guitar, she became infatuated with punk rock after having seen the Damned play their first New York City show at CBGB. Denise attended the gig with a friend who worked for Stiff Records and has recalled of the event "literally the second they started to play, my life changed." She elaborated that punk rock made creativity and attitude more important than "being able to play like Jimi Hendrix."

Determining that her local punk rock scene was beginning to age and soften ("there was a pause" in the vitality of NYC's punk landscape, Mercedes remembers), and after a tryout as a guitarist for a side-project of the Damned's Rat Scabies didn't pan out, Mercedes set out to form her own band called the Stimulators, named after a piece of equipment used in acupuncture.

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