Protopunk is a term used retrospectively to describe a number of musicians who were important precursors of punk rock in the late 1960s to mid-1970s, or who have been cited by early punk musicians as influential. Typically, these artists were not themselves considered punk; furthermore, the typification is not widely regarded to have been the result of a distinct musical genre as these precursors came from a wide array of backgrounds, styles, and influences.

American acts like The Seeds, The Monks, The Velvet Underground, MC5, The Stooges, The Modern Lovers, The Sonics, New York Dolls, Lou Reed, Big Star, The Fugs, Television, Death, Captain Beefheart, Patti Smith, Richard Hell, Rocket from the Tombs, and Love, German acts such as Neu! and Can, and acts from Britain including David Bowie, T.Rex, Faces (band), Brian Eno, Mott The Hoople, The Kinks, The Who, Roxy Music, Doctors of Madness and Hawkwind are commonly cited as the most noteworthy artists that would ultimately influence punk.

Michael Anthony 'Mick' Farren (born 3 September 1943, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire) is an English journalist, author and singer associated with counterculture and the UK Underground.

Farren was the singer with the proto-punk band The Deviants between 1967 and 1969, releasing three albums. During 1970 he released the solo album Mona – The Carnivorous Circus which also featured Steve Peregrin Took, John Gustafson and Paul Buckmaster, before ending his music business to concentrate on writing.

During the mid-1970s, he briefly revived his musical career, releasing the EP Screwed Up, album Vampires Stole My Lunch Money and single "Broken Statue". The album featured fellow NME journalist Chrissie Hynde and Dr. Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson.

He has sporadically done musical work since then, collaborating with Wayne Kramer on Who Shot You Dutch? and Death Tongue, Jack Lancaster on The Deathray Tapes and Andy Colquhoun on The Deviants albums Eating Jello With a Heated Fork and Dr. Crow.

Aside from his own work, he has provided lyrics for various musician friends over the years. He has collaborated with Lemmy, co-writing "Lost Johnny" for Hawkwind, and "Keep Us on the Road" and "Damage Case" for Motörhead. With Larry Wallis, he co-wrote "When's the Fun Begin?" for the Pink Fairies and several tracks on Wallis' solo album Death in a Guitar Afternoon. He provided lyrics for the Wayne Kramer single "Get Some" during the mid-1970s, and continued to work with and for him during the 1990s.

Darryl Read (born 19 September 1951) is a British poet, singer, guitarist, drummer, actor and writer. Read is among the forerunners of punk rock. According to 2008's Pretty Vacant: A History of UK Punk, his second band Crushed Butler "was, in many ways, Britain's first proto-punk band." In addition to his work with Crushed Butler, spanning from the group's founding in 1969 to is dissolution in 1971, Read played briefly with Krayon Angels (1968–69) and has released a number of solo albums. He has collaborated in recording with such musicians as Bill Legend, Mickey Finn and Ray Manzarek.

Read's involvement with film has included 1964's Daylight Robbery, for which Read won a Silver Lion medal award at the Venice Film Festival at the age of 14.^{[citation needed]} He wrote a screenplay with Bernard White for the feature film Remember a Day, and also starred as Roger Bannerman, a character based on Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett. He acted on stage in two rock-based plays. In Let the Good Stones Roll, which debuted at the Edinburgh Festival, he played Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. He was featured in Bastard Angel, a play inspired by the band The Kinks. Read has also worked on television as an actor in many productions.