Queen

“I’ve decided the best name for the band is Queen,” Freddie Mercury announced one day in 1970. Roger Taylor, who had played with Brian May in a band called Smile, recorded the moment in his diary: “Until then we were going to call it Build Your Own Boat.” (Other suggestions had included The Rich Kids, later used by another band, and The Grand Dance.) Hmmm … Killer Build Your Own Boat? I don’t think so.

? and The Mysterians

Dave Marsh, in a 1971 article for Creem magazine, described this Hispanic American garage band as “punk rock”, possibly the first use of the term; since the 19th century, “punk” had referred to a man raped in prison. The band’s name was inspired by the 1957 Japanese science fiction film The Mysterians. Their first single, 96 Tears, went to No 1 in the US and reached the top 40 in the UK. The band’s home town of Bay City, Michigan, has proclaimed 96 Tears the official “rock’n’roll song of the city”.