Upon further reflection, rather than draw attention from the players' selections for ARG music, this thread will be for the puppet masters to list songs that inspired them while they were working on the game. And to be fair, I'll start with a few that inspired me.
The Alarm - The Stand
I loved listening to this song when we were planning Cthulhu. Especially when we were discussing killing off Adell. The last verse might end with "No epitath engraved," but I knew full well that it may just be Adell that belonged there.
Stellar Corpses - Steel Butterfly
I've been getting into psychobilly of late, and I really enjoyed the looming danger crossed with innocence involved in this song, particularly regarding Tara's arc.
The Killers - When You Were Young
I've always been a fan of this band since I first heard them (in... uh... Singstar, actually). This song in particular rings home to me, because of two things. One, things weren't always quite so rosy for you guys as fiction would have you imagine, but you made do. Plus, the line about "burning down the highway skyline on the back of a hurricane, that started turning when you were young" stood out, because it seemed like you guys never quite saw how much things had been building up until you took a look back.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Red Right Hand
Yeah, I listened to this one a ton.
Due to being at work, YouTube links will come later.