It all began back in 1979. The punk revolution was on it's way out the door. New Wave was a joke, and people were getting sick of hearing the same old songs on the radio. In walks Jerry Dammers to take over the scene.

     Dammers figured that everyone needed something new. So he gathered together a group of bands he thought could get the job done. He came up with The Specials, The Selector, and the Swingin Cats from Coventry; Madness and The Bodysnatchers from London, and The Beat from Birmingham.

     Each of these bands had a unique style. They each stood apart from each other in sound and look. But they had quite a few things in common. For one, they were all integrated bands that sang about unity in their songs. Two, they loved the music they played which was SKA.

     Sure the sound was different from the first wave of ska musicians. They strove to make the second wave unique by mixing the energy of punk with the style and rhythm of Jamaican ska. After a while Chrysalis records saw the potential of this budding label and bought Dammers out. Dammers did not sell out that easily though, he retained the right to sign new bands under the 2 tone label. Eventually the ranks swelled to include; The Specials, The Selector, Madness, Rico Ridriguez, The Apollinairs, The Swingin Cats, The Beat ( dubbed the English Beat in America because a band already had that name), The Hisons, J.B. Allstars, The Bodysnatchers, The Friday Club, The Special AKA, and even Elvis Costello (One single steaped in legal mumbo jumbo, it never got released). But all good things come to an end. Dammers was losing too much money, he drowned in a sea of dept to Chrysalis, and 2 Tone was no more.