Greater Than One is an English

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

band, founded by husband and wife Michael Wells and Lee Newman in 1985. They released many albums under this name, and also under the names Tricky Disco, GTO, John + Julie, Church of Extacy, Signs of Chaos, T.D.5, Salami Brothers, Killout Squad, Technohead and L.E.D.. Only a few of their singles were commercially successful. Since Newman's death on 4 August 1995 from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

, Wells continues to release music under some of these names, and also as The Man and S.O.L.O.

1985: Greater Than One

In 1985, Newman and Wells met at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, formed Greater Than One, and released their first album ''Kill the Pedagogue'' on cassette. During the late 1980s they organised art installations and exhibitions accompanied by their own music: "When the whole audience were in, we started a soundtrack ... war sirens and searchlights. This was designed to disorientate the audience, throwing them into an unexpected nightmare. After the shock, Islamic chanting began which then changed to ''Song For England'', during which we came onstage wearing illuminous skull masks...". They formed their own

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed dir ...

''Kunst=Kapital'' and released four further albums under this alias between 1987 and 1990.

1990: First hits

Their first hit single was the trance record "Pure" as GTO on

Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records () is a British record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ellis-Wright Ag ...

, a club hit around Europe, closely followed by "Tricky Disco" as Tricky Disco on

Warp Records Warp Records (or simply Warp) is a British independent record label founded in Sheffield in 1989 by record store employees Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell and record producer Robert Gordon.Southern, Richard (2003) "Label of Love: WARP", X-RAY, A ...

, which peaked at number 14 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in July 1990. Jumping Man Records

They used many aliases because, releasing so much material, they feared the press would not write about it all, if they knew it all came from the same band. As Newman said, "if you give them a Tricky Disco one week and then a John and Julie two weeks later and GTO a month later they’ll write about all of it". Their aliases also allowed them to release different types of material on different

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

s. The single "Double Happiness" as John and Julie appeared on

XL Recordings XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989 by Tim Palmer and Nick Halkes. It has been ran and co-owned by Richard Russell since 1996. It forms part of the Beggars Group. Although only releasing an average of six album ...

; the 12 inch single "Listen to the rhythm flow''"'' as GTO was released on Jumping Man Records in 1991; the 1993 ''Tip of the Iceberg'' album as GTO was released on

REACT REACT or React may refer to: Science and technology *REACT (telescope), a telescope at Fenton Hill Observatory, New Mexico, US Computing * React (JavaScript library) , a JavaScript library for building user interfaces, from Facebook ** React Nati ...

, and the 1995 album ''Headsex'' as Technohead appeared on

Mokum Records Mokum Records is a Dutch independent record label specialising in early hardcore and hardcore releases. They have released about 100 single and EP vinyl records between 1993 and 1999 and more than 80 since 2004. Fred Berkhout (Freddy B) created M ...

1995: Technohead

Headsex ''Headsex'' is the first album by Technohead, a pseudonym of the duo Greater Than One, released in 1995. It is the album from which the single "I Wanna Be a Hippy" was taken, which peaked at number six in the UK Singles Chart in February 1996. T ...

'' contained their biggest hit, "

I Wanna Be a Hippy "I Wanna Be a Hippy" is a song by English electronic group Technohead. The vocals were taken from David Peel's song "I Like Marijuana", which he sung in the movie '' Rude Awakening''. It first appeared as the B-side to the group's ''Mary Jane E ...

". The remix by Flamman & Abraxas was accompanied by a video featuring three youths with shaved heads, wearing

Mokum ''Mokum'' (מקום) is the Yiddish word for "place" or "safe haven". It is derived from the Hebrew word ''makom'' (מקום, "place"). In Yiddish, the names for some cities in the Netherlands and Germany were shortened to ''Mokum'' and had t ...

T-shirts and carrying inflatable hammers, chasing a

hippy A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

on a bicycle around a park in Amsterdam. However, Newman later died that year in August, after a brief battle with cancer. It reached number 1 in 12 countries including

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, and number 6 in the UK in February 1996, which culminated in two performances on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'' in January and February of the same year. Two Technohead follow-up singles followed in 1996. "Happy Birthday" fared mildly well in Europe, cracking the top 20 in the UK and Finland in April at No. 18 and No. 20, respectively, reached the top 40 in Ireland and the Netherlands with peaks at No. 23 and No. 28, respectively, and managed to chart in Germany at No. 100. The follow-up single, "Banana-na-na", which was released in October, cracked the top 40 in the Netherlands at No. 38 and peaked at No. 64 in the UK.The Zobbel website Chart Log UK 1994 – 2006
Zobbel.de, accessed 15 June 2007. Wells has recorded many singles and three more albums since, including two Tricky Disco singles in February 2007 and two Technohead singles in 2010 and 2014, both of which were released on Mokum Records. In 2019, Wells returned to Mokum Records to release the song "Hands Up!" in order to commemorate the label's 200th release and also to release the "Wasted EP" as MOK202.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb9CLBvhtic

Discography

Studio albums

Greater Than One

*''Kill the Pedagogue'' (1985) *''All the Masters Licked Me'' (1987) *''Trust'' (recorded 1987 as the first attempt of All the Masters Licked Me) *''Dance of the Cowards'' (1988) *''London'' (1989) *''G-Force'' (1989) *''Index'' (1991) (EP) *''Duty + Trust'' (1991 - recorded 1987/1988)

GTO

*''Tip of the Iceberg'' (1993)

Church of Extacy

*''Technohead'' (1993)

Technohead

*''

'' (1995) *''Wasted'' (EP) (2019)

Signs Ov Chaos

*''Frankenscience'' (1996)

The Man

*''Phunk Box'' (1997)

Signs of Chaos

*''Departure'' (1998)

S.O.L.O.

*''Out Is In'' (1999)

Singles

Technohead

References

External links

Official site
{{Authority control 1985 establishments in England Musical groups established in 1985 English techno music groups English electronic music groups Hardcore techno music groups Wax Trax! Records artists