The Toasters

Noting that the 2-Tone movement had little impact on American music, the Toasters formed in 1982 to bring Ska -- which by that time had become a wildly popular music form in Britain -- to audiences on the other side of the Atlantic. Their sound is culled from Jamaican Ska of the '60s and its British offspring of the '80s, incorporating the same restless beats and robust horns as its predecessors. Founder Rob Hingley also created Moon Ska Records, which has become a highly successful label in the wake of the '90s Ska explosion.