Nervous Gender

Their use of heavily distorted keyboards and synthesizers made them, along with the Screamers, one of the original innovators of what is today called "electropunk", although they could equally be considered an early industrial group. The group was confrontational and experimental.
Phranc's androgynous appearance was the embodiment of the group's name, garnered the band much press in zines such as Slash and, later, proved inspirational to founders of the queercore movement. Despite their somewhat high profile, the groups' habit of provoking the audience and obscene material guaranteed they would never gain commercial acceptance. At their first show in 1979, a benefit for the Women's Video Center, Phranc called the audience "pussies" and "dykes" when the band was requested to stop playing.