Interstate Vigilante
Running time: 5 hours, 55 minutes
Format: MP3 (128-320 kbps)
Number of tracks: 191
Filesize: 697.7 MB
Interstate '76 was a really interesting 3D vehicular combat game that hit the PC market when that genre was already really hot, but the post oil crisis setting, late '70s timeframe, and incredible band-recorded funk soundtrack really set it apart. If you haven't given it a try, hunt it down and put some rockets on your hood!
Activision reached out to Arion Salazar (who would later become the bass player of Third Eye Blind) to put together a jam band and create the music behind the game. The band called themselves "Bullmark" and included Tom Coster on keys (from Santana's band) and Bryan Mantia (from Primus and Guns 'n' Roses) as their drummer. Spearhead member David Shul played guitar, Les Harris played brass instruments, and there were several other session musicians involved. Aside from the music that was cut up and placed into the game, they also released a full album of the uncut songs with a few extras.
Interstate '76 saw great reviews, but it was not a huge release, selling under 75,000 copies the year it came out.
It later had an expansion (the Nitro Pack) that was rolled all into one collection called the Interstate '76 Arsenal, but no new music was added.
Two years later on PCs, Interstate '82 (the sequel) followed, but was met with lackluster reviews and sales. The soundtrack still shined through, as it was composed by members of the iconic pop band Devo, including a few exclusive Devo tracks at the time.
A good chunk of folks don't realize this, but the more popular Vigilante 8 console game series is a direct spin-off of the Interstate games. They had great soundtracks as well, though the Nintendo 64 versions were limited.