 Boston natives the Mighty Mighty Bosstones are credited with coining the term "ska-core," a mixture of ska and hardcore punk music that the Bosstones brought to mainstream acceptance through relentless touring and a fan-friendly attitude. The Bosstones were the first American ska band ever to sign with a major label; their first album for Mercury was 1993's Don't Know How to Party. The next year, they released the acclaimed Question the Answers album and an EP titled Ska-core, the Devil and More, thus giving the mainstream media what it was beginning to want -- a label for a burgeoning music scene. In 1995, the Bosstones joined the Lollapalooza tour as a main stage act, albeit with the dubious task of opening each day's show. The band also made its big-screen debut, appearing in the movie Clueless. Cast in a role that must have been a big stretch -- the band at a party -- the Bosstones played two songs that also appeared on the soundtrack. Clueless was a major dose of exposure for the band, as was their headlining stint on the Northeast leg of the Warped Tour in 1996. At the same time the Bosstones were priming themselves for a breakthrough, the music they had played for a decade was finally becoming a trend, as bands like No Doubt and Sublime had blown the mass market open with multimillion-selling ska-influenced albums. In 1997, the Bosstones released Let's Face It, their most crafted, song-oriented album yet. The album's lead single, "The Impression That I Get," (also featured on a charity album issued by the Bosstones-founded Big Rig Records) received massive airplay on modern-rock and, later, mainstream radio stations. Let's Face It went platinum as the Bosstones kept up their constant touring, which spawned the 1998 live album Live From the Middle East. Their latest, Pay Attention, was released in 2000. Andrew Fraker
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