Hi, new here. I'm JD.
Almost always while I write, I listen to music as a form of white noise, as I believe you suggested. I don't always have a room of my own with a door that I can use to shut out the world. So much of the time, I'll set up my laptop on the kitchen table and put in my headphones.
My writing music list mostly includes heavy, industrial / techno, stuff that evokes more of a mood and has lyrics that I don't necessarily pay a lot of attention to, like:
Ministry
The Prodigy
Tool
Queens of the Stone Age
Pink Floyd
Mostly I prefer music (while I'm writing at least) with a lot of long instrumental sections, and only a modicum of lyrics.
Sometimes I'll just hit the classical category on Spotify or Pandora and let the forces that be decide.
However, Angelo Badalamenti has always been my fall back if nothing else seems to be able to filter out the real world as I attempt to write.
Anyway, good question and thread. I myself often wonder what other people listen to as they write, those that don't prefer, or can't obtain, perfect silence that is.