999

If your house catches fire in the UK, you dial 999, the equivalent of the US 911. Remarkably 999, among the first wave of punks in the mid-70s, are still going strong after 40 years (latest gigs here), with three original members: Nick Cash (formerly of Kilburn and The High Roads), Guy Days, and Pablo LaBritain, one of two members recruited via the tried and tested method of an advert in Melody Maker; among those rejected were Chrissie Hynde, Jon Moss and Tony James. Their only top 40 single, Homicide, appears on the soundtrack of Grand Theft Auto IV. Little-known fact: there was an 80s band from Lviv, Ukraine, also known as 999.