Funk rock is a fusion genre that mixes elements of funk and rock. James Brown and others declared that Little Richard and his mid-1950s road band, the Upsetters, were the first to put the funk in the rock and roll beat, with a biographer stating that their music "spark[ed] the musical transition from fifties rock and roll to sixties funk".

Funk rock's earliest incarnation on record was heard in the late 1960s through the mid-1970s by acts such as Sly and the Family Stone, Parliament-Funkadelic, The Isley Brothers, Redbone, Rick Derringer, David Bowie, The Chambers Brothers, Cold Blood, Shuggie Otis, Aerosmith, Wild Cherry, the Average White Band, Gary Wright, Black Merda, Bar-Kays, Edwin Birdsong, Betty Davis, Trapeze and Mother's Finest. During the 1980s and 1990s funk rock music experienced a surge in popularity, with bands such as Prince & The Revolution, Tom Tom Club, Pigbag, INXS, Talking Heads, Devo, the Fine Young Cannibals and Cameo dabbling in the sound. Groups including Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, Incubus, Mr. Bungle, Primus and Faith No More also notably combined funk rock with metal, punk, hip hop and experimental music, leading to the emergence of the genre known as funk metal or "punk-funk".

Funk rock is a fusion of funk music and rock music also from the point of view of instrumentation, in fact it incorporates that of both genres into itself, and the overall sound is shaped by a definitive bass or drum beat and by electric guitars.