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.

Denise booked live dates for her band before she had a singer. She resolved this discrepancy by visiting Max's Kansas City and asking an attractive patron at the bar, Patrick Mack, whether he had experience singing, and whether he would like to be in a band, to which his answers were "no" and "yes" respectively. Mack, inspired by Iggy Pop, would go on to be noted as a wild, flamboyant, front man. Mack would also become the band's lyricist. Adding bassist Anne Gustavsson (later replaced by Nick Marden), the last step was procuring a drummer.

Drum tryouts with 1970s punk notables Johnny Blitz and Jerry Nolan failed to fill the vacant position, so Denise turned to her 11 year old nephew. Harley Flanagan had been raised in a Bohemian, rock 'n' roll environment. He had a book of poetry entitled Stories & Illustrations by Harley (Charlatan Press), with a foreword written by family friend Allen Ginsberg, published when he was nine. His mother was acquainted with members of the Velvet Underground/New York Dolls-era New York Rock scene, and Harley had frequently accompanied his aunt Denise to CBGB and Max's Kansas City. He proved to be an energetic and capable drummer.

The Stimulators, whose eclectic original lineup, now complete, featured two women, a homosexual man, and a child, began to attract a following from young city music fans that were still drawn to the initial spirit of punk rock from which the original CBGB bands had largely distanced themselves. Fanzine editor Jack Rabid, who was a regular at punk shows at Max's Kansas City, noticed for the first time many young overtly punk-looking and behaving attendees at the establishment, at Stimulators gigs. This gave him comfort as nearly 30 year old neighbor Richard Hell would tease him when seeing his own punk outfits, declaring that it "was over". Rabid would in 1980 publish the first issue of The Big Takeover, named after a Bad Brains song. The periodical originally focused on The Stimulators, but is published to this day covering punk rock generally.

The Stimulators played regularly at city rock venues, including CBGB, Irving Plaza, Paradise Garage, Tier 3, Danceteria, A7, and Max's Kansas City, and also toured both nationally, and in Ireland. They shared bills with bands like Madness, Stiff Little Fingers, the Cramps, Bad Brains, James Chance & the Contortions, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, the B-52's, Richard Hell, Pure Hell, the Blessed, the Mad, Suicide, The Rattlers, The Necros, and The Circle Jerks. In 1980 they recorded the single "loud, fast, rules!", and in 1982 released a live album of the same name, recorded live in Raleigh, North Carolina. The phrase "loud, fast, rules!" came from bassist Nick Marden (who like Flannagan, had been around rock music from early childhood, his aunt Joan Baez having taken him to Monterey Pop when he was 8). Marden wrote the phrase on the back of his punk leather jacket, surrounded by band names, and when noticed by his bandmates, was used as a title for a song Mercedes and Mack had already written. The title became something of a punk rock catchphrase in its time.

Patrick Mack died in 1983 of complications associated with AIDS, ending the Stimulators' run.