Late 80s/Early 90s Band AU where Mike Wheeler, Max Mayfield and Jane 'El' Hopper are all in a Post-Punk/New Wave band together, and Goth Icon Will Byers, a famous Music Reviewer, keeps leaving joking hate reviews on them
But the reviews end up going viral and are bringing the Band A LOT of attention, so they need to keep up the bit of 'arguing' with Will while secretly trying to keep under the wraps that it's the very same Will that Mike actually wrote several verses in his songs about
The band's producer and manager (they were low on budget and why spend more when he can do everything at once?) Dustin Henderson is freaking out trying to do damage control while also loving the drama
Star basketball Captain Lucas Sinclair changes his team's entrance song from one of the Band's songs to a song by a band that Will gave super high reviews to (Jonathan, Robin, Nancy and Steve's Band, who fast become the rivals of the other three) and when he is questioned on why (his relationship with Max is public) he says "Oh well Max doesn't mind and besides, need to keep the reputation up, so Byers is better"
The whole thing comes to an end when the paparazzi get a photo of Mike and Will kissing backstage at a concert in '92, which ultimately takes them out of the spotlight because of homophobia, but the Band becomes HUGE in the 90s Queer Scenes and they publish an interview discussing how the bit got out of hand and Mike and Will have been together for five years and share an apartment, and El is Will and Jonathan's sister, and Nancy is Mike's sister, so the entire rivalry between the two Bands is just a sibling rivalry (similarly with Dustin as producer and Steve managing their band for themselves)