dps boys as music they would each listen to
neil: really likes the mountain goats, especially “this year” because it’s about escaping an abusive home. when he’s running lines sometimes he’ll put on herbie hancock in the background, and he listens to “alone and i” the most. todd buys him the vinyl for his birthday. he has a soft spot for musical theatre. he wishes he could sing, if he could hold even a bit of a tune he’d be in musicals but he really, really can’t. after his first paid acting gig, he buys a guitar at a pawn shop because he’s always wanted to learn how to play.
todd: he won’t stop listening to elliott smith and sufjan stevens. his favorite song is “the predatory wasp of the palisades is out to get us!” and he listens to it loudly through headphones, so often that neil knows all of the words when todd finally works up the nerve to show it to him. his guilty pleasure band is wham! and during a holiday party he gets too drunk and sings last christmas with charlie for karaoke.
charlie: loves riot grrrl and queercore. will not shut up about x-ray spex and bikini kill. has a soft spot for any girl indie singer, specifically mitski. his favorite pop artist is rina sawayama. he’s seen lady gaga live three times and dragged knox with him. when he’s sad he only listens to phoebe bridgers, and loudly sings every single song in the shower so everyone will know he’s in a mood.
knox: oh god. it’s a weird mix of artists like her’s, mac demarco, diners, rex orange county and really silly stuff like yung gravy and tiny meat gang. he has a travis scott phase and is insufferable about it. neil is really annoyed because he inexplicably has a great voice, which he uses to his advantage by serenading every single person he’s ever flirted with.
steven: indie king. he finds all of the music before it’s cool. he has a soft spot for oldies and will defend the beatles, so don’t go there. he likes bands you’ve never heard of like cheekface and pinc louds, but he’s not a dick about it. him and gerard take all of the poets to their first concerts. weirdly enough he listens to top 40s pop when he’s driving, which is a lot because he’s somehow become everyone’s designated driver for everything.
gerard: 100 gecs, kero kero bonito, g.l.o.s.s., sophie, megan thee stallion. a different side of the coin than meeks but like his best friend he has the coolest taste. he dabbles in production and secretly wants to make hyperpop. he’s really good at modding pedals and runs an underground business doing it for a bunch of kids at all the neighboring schools. he listens to a lot of punk as well, and bonds with charlie over it.
cameron: he’s obsessed with tchaikovsky. obsessed with him. he and charlie are always bickering over whether or not the other can play music out loud in their room. for the holidays the group all pitch in to get both char and cameron noise cancelling headphones. secretly, cameron kind of likes some of the music charlie plays, even though it scares the shit out of him. he doesn’t realize that people can see what you’re listening to on spotify and one day the groupchat explodes because richard cameron himself was listening to girlpool.
keating: he’s iconic so he’s really into joni mitchell, and teaches a poetry lesson using her songs. when he realizes gerard is writing music he’s ecstatic and helps him with lyrics as much as he can. he doesn’t really get the newer genres that the poets are into, but he tries valiantly and even kind of likes hatsune miku when charlie jokingly shows her to him.
