Basque rock is the rock tradition that emerged in the Basque Autonomous Community and northern Navarre from the mid-1980s, sung mostly in Basque (Euskara) with some Spanish. The founding movement was 'Rock Radikal Vasco' (RRV, Basque Radical Rock) — punk, ska, and hardcore fused with abertzale-ezker (Basque nationalist-left) political consciousness. Line-ups are standard four- or five-piece rock bands; Kortatu added trombone and sax for a ska-influenced early sound. Lyrics deal directly with labour, unemployment, police violence, political prisoners (especially those associated with ETA), and Basque independence — the subject matter runs hotter than anything in other regional Spanish rock traditions. Tempos are 140-180 BPM punk range, though Su Ta Gar operates in metal odd-times and Berri Txarrak's post-2000 alt-rock uses slower 4/4.

Franco died in November 1975, and the 1978 Spanish Constitution restored democracy, but forty years of suppression of Basque language and culture were still very recent memory. The 1979 Statute of Autonomy (Estatuto de Gernika) made Basque an official language again — but the young generation still needed music in their own tongue that acknowledged the political present. Around 1983-84 the Bilbao label Discos Suicidas and the Salamanca-based cassette-magazine Muskaria collectively named the emerging scene 'Rock Radikal Vasco.' Kortatu formed in Irún in 1984 around Fermin Muguruza (born 1963), his brother Iñigo, and Treku Armendáriz. Their 1985 single 'Sarri Sarri' — a ska-driven anthem celebrating the ETA prisoner Joseba Sarrionandia's escape from Martutene prison hidden in a loudspeaker box — became the movement's symbol. La Polla Records (Bilbao, 1979), Barricada (Pamplona), and Eskorbuto (Santurtzi) rounded out the RRV core.

In 'Sarri Sarri' the guitars mark the off-beats in 2 Tone-ska fashion (the direct English legacy of The Specials and The Selecter), while Fermin sings a Basque-inflected Spanish. The gap between the joyful ska rhythm and the subject matter (celebrating a political-prisoner escape) is the whole point. Negu Gorriak's 'Ustelkeria' (1990) drops the ska and replaces it with a hip-hop-plus-hardcore hybrid — Kaki Arkarazo's distorted guitars with Fermin rapping. Su Ta Gar's 'Jo ta ke' (1990) is Basque-language heavy metal, Iron Maiden twin-guitar harmonies over Basque lyrics — an unusual pairing. Berri Txarrak's 'Konplize' (2003) is Fugazi- and At-the-Drive-In-influenced post-hardcore; the consonantal weight of Gorka Urbizu's Basque delivery carries political urgency even without translation.

Kortatu, 'Sarri Sarri' (1985) — the sound and stance of Rock Radikal Vasco in one three-minute song. Negu Gorriak, 'Ustelkeria' (1990) — the hip-hop-inflected evolution. Su Ta Gar, 'Jo ta ke' (1990) — Basque-language metal. Berri Txarrak, 'Konplize' (2003) — the post-RRV alt-rock generation. Read the political context alongside — the 2011 ETA ceasefire and its long aftermath — because the songs are inseparable from Basque political history.

The Rock Radikal Vasco label was coined around 1983 by the Gaztetxeen Koordinakundea (Basque youth-centre coordinating committee) — not a musical genre definition but a movement description. Fermin Muguruza went on from Kortatu (1984-88) through Negu Gorriak (1990-96) into a solo career of international political-music collaborations with Manu Chao, the Palestinian rap group DAM, and Cuban musicians. Su Ta Gar's name — 'Fire and Flame' in Basque — refers to the Basque nationalist-left slogan 'Jo ta ke irabazi arte' ('strike and strike until we win'). Berri Txarrak ('Bad News' in Basque) ended their 25-year run in 2019; Gorka Urbizu has since published poetry alongside his ongoing solo music.