"It was a bit of a crazy day out," he remembers, not least because the programme was completely unprepared for an acid house artist. According to Dougans, the producers insisted that if there were any vocals on a track, somebody had to sing them. "I was like, 'It's a fucking computer, man'," says Dougans, referring to Humanoid's signature refrain sampled from the arcade game Berzerk. "But somebody had to be singing the words, hence why I had a little microphone. If you actually look closely, you see me mouthing the words. They made me do it. The bastards!"
Appearing alongside Dougans were two energetic dancers supplied by the show's producers, and Jon Goslan, Dougans's best friend at the time, who leapt around pretending to play bass. "The only reason he is in there is because I was staying at his squat and didn't really know anyone else in London," says Dougans. "I was travelling from Manchester to London weekly. He seemed like a good candidate to make up the numbers."
The disconnect, between Dougans's growing fame and his living arrangements, was not lost on him. "I remember afterwards," he explains. "We went up to the cafe, had a quick drink and then we were off home – which was back to the squat, which of course had no lights, no electricity. I was thinking, 'My God, I've just done Top of the Pops and I'm living in a squat? What the fuck?'"
While appearances on Top of the Pops highlighted the fact that Dougans enjoyed the mainstream's acknowledgement, he was not always comfortable with the surrounding environment. "I remember coming off stage and one of the Pet Shop Boys popped up and said, 'That was amazing - I had shivers.' I was like, 'Quick, let's get out of here.'"
