Phranc
Outside Club 88, Darby Crash gave Phranc the infamous cigarette “Germs burn,” a circular mark connecting the two in Crash's "circle." Yet, Phranc was already a prominent member of the L.A. punk scene, and Crash’s and Phranc’s openness about the identities would separate their roles in it.
Phranc (nee Susan Gottlieb) talked overtly about being a lesbian amongst a somewhat un-accepting scene, as depicted by Crash’s reluctance to identify as gay. Phranc in her own words explains “I was always out as a lesbian. I can’t remember any other out queers at that time. There were the Screamers but nobody ever really talked or sang about them being queer.” She took pride in writing songs that dealt with the issues of lesbians, but also sought to reach everybody. In no way did Phranc want her sexuality to define her, for it is as she describes “...part of me like my haircut and shoes...” (She’s a Rebel, 311). In such a way, Phranc unlike Tomata du Plenty (as explained in the opening quotation) spoke up about her identity, but did not push it as the end-all.
Phranc joined the punk scene in the early 80s in order to enter a new peer group founded on excitement, creativity, and politics. Playing with bands Nervous Gender and Catholic Discipline (featured in The Decline of Western Civilization), Phranc sang and screamed her way into the subculture. Later, she took up folk music, but carried punk’s political messages, also with more openness about her sexuality. A self-proclaimed, "Jewish-Lesbian folksinger," Phranc's solo career included not only music, but parody. Notably, her show Hot August Phranc, (a take on Neil Diamond's Hot August Night) centers on Phranc performing hypermasculinity, in turn questioning sexuality and pop culture. She both embodies a Diamond-esque assertiveness, while highlighting masculine absurdities. Phranc, through performance, subverts sexual roles with songs like Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon and Cracklin' Rosie, as she directed them towards men in the audience.This page has paths:
- Queer LA Punk Archive H. N. Lukes
