Very influential British punk rock band which formed in 1977 with the original line up of Terry 'Tez' Roberts on vocals, Tony 'Bones' Roberts on guitar, Roy 'Rainy' Wainwright on guitar, Nigel Bamford on bass and Akko on drums. Shortly after Nigel Bamford left the group, and Rainy moved to bass. This line up sounded much more like the Sex Pistols, but only recorded one demo. The line up and the sound changed in 1979. It became: Kelvin 'Cal' Morris on vocals, Bones on guitar, Rainy on bass and Tez on drums, which many consider to be the "classic" Discharge line up.

The band pioneered a heavy, distorted, and grinding guitar–driven sound and anti–melodic shouted or screamed vocals with on a focus on anarchist and pacifist themes and frequent mention of nuclear war.

Discharge also pioneered "D–beat" as a punk subgenre. The band's sound, political viewpoint and stripped–down aesthetic can be traced to modern hardcore bands like ; Disfear, Tragedy, Nasum,