Punk rock is the anti-establishment music movement of the period 1976-80, exemplified by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash, and The Damned. This term is also used to describe subsequent music scenes that share key characteristics with those first-generation "punks." The term is sometimes also applied to the fashions or the irreverent "do-it-yourself" attitude associated with this musical movement.

The term "punk rock" (from 'punk', meaning rotten, worthless, or snotty; also a prison slang term for a person who is sexually submissive) was originally used to describe the untutored guitar-and-vocals-based rock and roll of U.S. bands of the mid-1960s such as The Seeds and The Standells, who now are more often categorized as "garage rock."

The term was first coined by rock critic Dave Marsh, who used it to describe the music of ? and the Mysterians in the May 1971, issue of Creem magazine. The term was adopted by many rock music journalists in the early 1970s. For example, in the liner notes of the 1972 anthology album Nuggets, critic and guitarist Lenny Kaye uses the term "punk-rock" to refer to the Sixties "garage rock" groups, as well as some of the darker and more primitive elements of '60s psychedelia. Shortly after the time of those notes, Lenny Kaye formed a band with avant garde poet Patti Smith. Smith's group, and her first LP released in 1975, directly inspired many of the mid-70s punk rockers, so this suggests a path by which the term migrated to the music we now know as punk.

In addition to the inspiration of those "garage bands" of the sixties, the roots of punk rock also draw on the abrasive, dissonant style of The Velvet Underground, the sexually and politically confrontational Detroit bands The Stooges and MC5, the UK pub rock scene and, like friends MC5 political UK Underground bands such as Mick Farren and the Deviants, early New York underground music scenes and attitudes which culminated in the New York Dolls, and some British "glam rock" or "art rock" acts of the early seventies, such as David Bowie, Roxy Music, and Marc Bolan and T. Rex.

The term "protopunk" is sometimes applied to these diverse performers who influenced what would later become punk rock.

Culturally, the early punk rock movement was a direct reaction to the perceived pointlessness and over-indulgence of mainstream rock music as it had evolved in the early 1970s. Bands such as Jefferson Airplane which had survived the 1960s in some form were regarded as having lost their message of rebellion and their support for counterculture values. Eric Clapton's appearance in television beer ads in the mid-1970s was often taken as a prime example of how even the icons of rock had literally sold themselves to the system they once opposed. Consequently, most attitudes and aesthetics of the 1960s were rejected in a firm renouncing of what music and counterculture had become.

It appeared that at least a significant subset of the youth or music culture was very ready for this repentance from the values of mainstream rock. From its appearance in London and New York, the punk rock culture spread rapidly. One aspect of the 1960s counterculture which was adopted by the punk rock movement was the empowerment of the individual rejecting what was being fed to listeners by the then-dominant recording industry. In the U.S., punk rock bands appeared literally overnight in numerous urban areas producing memorable, if not necessarily enduring sparks in the growing fire that was becoming the punk movement. Notable bands were produced by Los Angeles, such as X, Black Flag, and The Dils. San Francisco spawned the Dead Kennedys. Innumerable others appeared and disappeared as punk rock grew from highly independent cadres of individuals to a cultural movement with defined values, icons and aesthetics.

In the mid-1970s, influential punk bands emerged separately in three different corners of the world: The Ramones in New York, The Saints in Australia, and the Sex Pistols, in London. In each case, these bands were operating within a small "scene" which included other bands as well as enthusiastic impresarios who operated small nightclubs that provided a showcase and meeting place for the emerging musicians (the 100 Club in London, CBGB's in New York, and The Masque in Hollywood are among the best know early punk clubs). In the UK, punk interacted with the Jamaican reggae & ska subcultures. The reggae influence in evident in the first releases by the Clash, for example, and by the end of the decade punk had spawned the 2 Tone ska revival movement, including bands such as The Specials, Madness and The Selecter.