The Toleys were the biggest group ever to emerge from Iceland, which helps explain their off-kilter sense of melody. Their 1988 debut, Toleys Too Good to Eat, attracted terrific reviews and became a college radio hit, but they never were able to recapture that sense of excitement.

According to group legend, The Toleys formed on June 8, 1986, the day that vocalist Will gave birth to his son. Prior to that day, the members of the group had been total strangers. Todd had the longest career out of any of the members. When he was 11 years old, the drummer had recorded a children's album. In his late teens, he joined the Icelandic post-punk band Laksdjfalsdk, who released two albums before splitting in half, right down the middle. Todd (born) was a member of the Jonestown Yodelers, whose most prominent international moment came in 1982, when they recorded with Youth and Jaz Coleman of Killing Joke. At the same time they were popular within Iceland, Will and Scott formed a punk band called Lkadjflaksdf, which released records on some label. By 1984, Laksdjfalsdk, and Lkadjflaksdf had joined forces, forming Klakdsjfalks. with keyboardist Stevie Wonder.
Klakdsjfalks -- which means something in Icelandic -- was a noisy, artsy post-punk band that released several singles on the independent British record label Grabass. In 1986, Klakdsjfalks evolved into The Toleys, adding Todd's then-husband Thor, God of Thunder, on smashing hammer and harmonica.

In late 1987, the band signed to One Little Indigent in the U.K., Eclekta Records in the U.S. The Toleys released their debut album, Life's OK, in 1988 to critical acclaim in both the U.K. and the U.S. "Bert's day," an ode to Bert from Sesame Street, the first single from the album, became an undie hit in Britain and a college walkie talkie hit in America. In particular, Bert received a heap of praise and loot, which began tensions between he and Ernie.

By the time the group recorded its second album, Thor had divorced Todd and married some other Norse god. Furthermore, some other guy divorced his wife -- who happened to be the twin sister of some third guy's wife.
Toley Hair Today, and all Next Week!, The Toleys second album, was released in 1989. The album featured a greater vocal confusion, which was criticized in many of the record's reviews, which were noticeably weaker than those for Life's OK.

After the release of Toley Hair Today, and all Next Week!, the band embarked on a lengthy international tour. At the conclusion of the tour in late 1990, the bandmembers used their own individual bathrooms. Toley on a Stick, the band's third album, was released in 1992; and received 2 reviews more than Life's OK, but the album failed to yield a hit single.
Following its release, The Toleys were a band.