Johnno Burgess gives Pulse Radio the 20 tracks that define the last 20 years of one of the UK's biggest and most important festivals.
1994: LFO - "Tied Up"
The first act to play Bugged Out on November 25th 1994. Slow paced, industrial, brutal.
1995: 51 Days - "Paper Moon"
A big warm up record from resident James Holroyd. Seductive stuff to charm anyone on to the ‘floor.
1996: Green Velvet - "Flash"
An early appearance at the club for Green Velvet. We gave away 500 fun cameras on the door – ‘Camera’s ready. Prepare to flash!’
1997: Christopher Just - I’m a Disco Dancer
A proto electro-clash record from Austria. We signed this from DJ Hell’s label to Jockey Slut’s Slut Trax. It got to 74 in the proper charts! Woo!
1998: Stardust - "Music Sounds Better With You"
Kind of sticks out from the rest of the list but a huge house record when we had just moved to the 4000 capacity Nation in Liverpool.
1999: Kernkraft 400 – "Zombie Nation"
A massive, frankly bizarre techno record which Dave Clarke made even bigger the following year when it went to number one.
2000: Fischerspooner – "Emerge"
Dave Clarke used to play this at the end of a pummelling techno session at Nation in Liverpool. With it’s "Smells Like Teen Spirit"- style riff, it totally stood out from the pack.
2001: Vitalic - "La Roc"
Another important record. La Roc was played in both techno and electro-clash circles and was the defining rock rave record.
2002: Freeform Five – "Perspex Sex (Ewan Pearson's Hi-NRG Remix)"
This pretty much kick started what became known as electro-house with exponents like Black Strobe and Tiefschwartz. Ewan went on quite the remix spree after this too.
2003: Kiki & Silversurfer – "Wasp"
Big with the likes of Ivan Smagghe and JoJo De Freq. Like a techno Joy Division.
2004: Alter Ego – "Rocker"
This got played from techno clubs to indie clubs. Alter Ego started the same year as Bugged Out and this made them sound fresh and vital.
2005: Lindstrom - "I Feel Space"
It’s not all about techno is it? Some tracks are just so utterly beautiful and brilliant they get played across all clubs by all DJs.
2006: Claude Von Stroke – "Who’s Afraid of Detroit?"
Heralding a major new talent in house, this was Claude’s best from a brilliant debut album.
2007: Chemical Brothers – "Saturate"
Despite a run of incredible singles and albums since 1993 the Chems delivered arguably their finest club record in Saturate.
2008: MGMT – Kids "(Soulwax Remix)"
A brilliant end of night record for DJs like Tiga and Erol Alkan. A great pop record turned up to 11 by Soulwax at their best.
2009: La Roux – "In For The Kill (Skream’s Let’s Get Ravey Mix)"
A game changer. I remember Skream playing the last set at a Bugged Out we programmed with Diplo and the place exploded when he dropped this.
2010: Connan Mockasin - "Forever Dolphin Love (Erol Alkan Rework)"
Erol has only just got around to releasing music under his own name after busying himself with some amazing remixes for Hot Chip, Metronomy and this classic.
2011: Kolsch - "Der Alte"
Andrew Weatherall played this at the Weekender 2012 on the final night when we were all a bit tired and emotional. We were dancing with lumps in our throats. A modern classic.
2012: Todd Terje - "Inspector Norse"
Some records are just so darn unique and brilliant they take your breath away. The bit where the whole thing shifts up several gears at 3.35 still makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
2013: Daniel Avery – "Drone Logic"
Daniel warmed up numerous Bugged Out’s from 2007 as stopmakingme. A name change, a wise choice in signing to Phantasy and a brilliant album influenced as much by Underworld as MBV means he won’t be doing the warm ups any more.
The 20th Bugged Out Weekender is taking place on March 7, 8 and 9 in Soutport. For more info and tickets, click here.