It will still be a bit before any of my fics update, but I wanted to share a little snippet of your average punk rock loser that I'm not sure will end up in the fic (or might be changed/pushed back a while). Duncan and Noah are trying to curate their music tastes to impress each other, but it isn't working because they each can see through it. Everything is a competition with them <3
Duncan picks London Calling as his favorite album because he thinks its political content, critical acclaim, and mainstream popularity would appeal to Noah. He picks The Velvet Underground as his favorite band because they're my favorite band because of their influence/acclaim/Warhol connection and because he associates them with queerness (not that he's consciously acknowledging that). He does really like The Clash and VU, but if he was with his punk band back home, he'd probably pick artists that are newer or more intense (and more punk, frankly) as his "favorites" to fit in better with them. (He is mainly a fan of older music in this fic, but that's more due to my tastes/knowledge base; I can easily see his tastes skewing more contemporary.)
As explained here, Noah picks Talking Heads' Remain In Light for very utilitarian reasons, seeing the band and album as universally respected by music nerds (critical acclaim, popularity, multi-genre, innovative) and with ties to music and music history that Duncan respects. I think he would like Talking Heads, but I don't see him having a favorite artist or album at all. (Conversely, I can see him being a big rap fan! Not sure if he'll be in this fic, though.) Noah's very pop culture literate and so is more knowledgeable about music than most other characters would be (although more about music history/figures than musicality), but he knows more about video games, literature, tv, movies.
Again, not sure if/when this will make it in the fic! I just thought I'd share a little wip, since I'm going longer than usual without posting for any of my td fics <3