Death is an American proto-punk band formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1964 by brothers Bobby (bass, vocals), David (guitar), and Dannis (drums) Hackney. The trio started out as a funk band but switched to rock after seeing a concert by The Who. Seeing Alice Cooper play was also an inspiration.

Music critic Peter Margasak retrospectively wrote that David "pushed the group in a hard-rock direction that presaged punk, and while this certainly didn't help them find a following in the mid-70s, today it makes them look like visionaries." They are seen by many people as one of the first punk bands in the world. The band broke up in 1977 but reformed in 2009 when the Drag City label released their 1975 studio recordings for the first time.

In 1964, the three young Hackney brothers (David, Bobby and Dannis) were sat down by their father to witness The Beatles' first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. The following day, David found a discarded guitar in an alley and set about learning to play. Brothers Bobby and Dannis soon followed suit and they began playing music together. Later, the young trio purchased the best instruments money could buy with money their mother won in a settlement.

The brothers practiced and recorded early demos in a room in the family home and performed their earliest gigs from their garage. Originally calling themselves Rock Fire Funk Express, guitarist David convinced his brothers to change the name of the band to Death after their father died in an accident. David wanted to change the meaning of the word: "His concept was spinning death from the negative to the positive. It was a hard sell," Bobby Hackney recalled in 2010.