thanks for the question!
One of my very first design ideas, as Long Haul was still taking shape, was: What if you could level up a character by listening to a song?
“Your character gets stronger by listening to the Staples Singers” was an early part of my pitch.
I knew I wanted an ambient soundtrack, so I began researching early ambient and experimental electronic music.
For the pop music that appears during gameplay, I knew that I wanted songs that were very specific to the period — stuff that was released in 1982 and early 1983 that could reasonably appear on a radio — but nothing that felt like your generic “80s music.”
It’s part of a larger attempt to sketch out an early 80s setting that wasn't defined by the common neon/vaporwave/synth aesthetics.
(These trappings are universalized, despite their deep connections to particular class, age, race, & regional identities. I wanted to move beyond that.)