My all-time favorite origin story is that of record producer Phil Spector. His recording technique earned the name "Wall of Sound" for the countless overdubs he would put into a single part. (IE, five bass players being recorded at once with mutliple microphones being placed in strategic locations to catch the sounds in such a way that made them fuller.)
It was when recording a cover of the Disney tune "It's a Small World" with this approach that Spector started to notice one of the guitars sounding peculiar. After some amount of time, he finally traced the sound to the guitar and sought to expand on that sound. Others who heard the song were also intrigued enough to emulate this distorted guitar.
I know this looks ridiculous enough to be a troll, but I'm citing the book "Reckless" by Carlton Smith. It should also be noticed that Spector was prancing around the studios with long hair and high heels before even the Beatles shocked the world with their mop tops. On principle, I think everyone who wants to record should at least have passing familiiarity with Spector and the Wall of Sound as well.