At the Top of My Little Cishet Lungs

“Tom Robinson of the Tom Robinson Band was—for me—the first queer punk rocker. I’m sure others came before, but Tom was the one who broke through into my consciousness—via the eclectic record collection of a cool older sibling in our crowd—and his music touched something deep in my cishet soul. Mind you, in 1982, when first being introduced to all his music, I was also a shitty, white, male, privileged, Gen-X teenager. I used—and most of my friends used—anti-gay slurs on a near-constant basis. So much so that the terms seemed almost wholly detached from their actual meaning, and these days, when I think how those constant, ubiquitous assaults must have wounded my queer and questioning classmates, how they must have driven frightened teenagers even further into lonely, closeted, segregated lives, I am horrified and ashamed.”—Michael Tallon

Fairly Unbalanced

By Michael Tallon

“As a broke, gay guitarist scratching a living on the fringes of the music business, I inhaled deeply. Our band nailed its flag to the mast of minority rights and set sail across the London pub circuit.” —Tom Robinson

ANTIGUA Guatemala—(Hubris)—August/September 2024—Back in high school, one of my best friends had an older brother with all the coolest music. While most of our peers were listening to Hall and Oates, Phil Collins, and Culture Club, we were off on a wild journey with Xavier Cugat, the Kinks, the Horseflies, the Buzzcocks, the Minutemen, the Sex Pistols, and various Brian Eno projects.

When we’d hang out, the record selection would bounce from Donovan to Blotto, to the Velvet Underground, to Bluegrass, to Frank Zappa, to Punk to whatever else was on the stacks all inside a few hours. It was a brilliantly fertile way to crack open a skull and pour the larger world inside—and since the artist who most broadened my world is celebrating his 73 birthday this summer, I figured I’d send out some love.

Also, it’s entirely appropriate that June first (as I write this) is his birthday, as it is also the inaugural day of Pride Month this and every year. This man’s brave, brilliant, kind, riotous, rebellious life has helped create a better, more beautiful, and gayer world for you and me and all of us to live in through his art, energy, and commitment to justice for one and all—so long as you weren’t and aren’t a fascist prick.

My friend spent his life—and still spends his life—writing, crafting, and performing beautiful punk rock ballads calling out the need for Power in the Darkness, particularly when it comes to creating space for his—and our, and my—LGBTQ+ brothers and sisters.

Tom Robinson of the Tom Robinson Band was—for me—the first queer punk rocker. I’m sure others came before, but Tom was the one who broke through into my consciousness—via the eclectic record collection of a cool older sibling in our crowd—and his music touched something deep in my cishet soul.

Mind you, in 1982, when first being introduced to all his music, I was also a shitty, white, male, privileged, Gen-X teenager. I used—and most of my friends used—anti-gay slurs on a near-constant basis. So much so that the terms seemed almost wholly detached from their actual meaning, and these days, when I think how those constant, ubiquitous assaults must have wounded my queer and questioning classmates, how they must have driven frightened teenagers even further into lonely, closeted, segregated lives, I am horrified and ashamed. I admit that here to contextualize the rest of this post. I was not one of the good guys at the time, yet—in good measure because of Tom Robinson and the Tom Robinson Band—I was first handed the tools needed to smash my way out of a bigoted silo earlier than I might have been able otherwise, and for that, I owe him—and the other warriors for liberty—deep gratitude.

Tom’s music—his driving, soaring, rage-filled music—is written from the heart of a struggle for identity and freedom. He IS punk rock, and through his personal struggle, he became an absolute engine of the Gay Rights and Civil Rights movements in his native UK and beyond. I was not a part of his community, the community he sang and fought for, but I found so much commonality with his message in my own quotidian, pedestrian, adolescent battles for autonomy and identity that something of the larger struggle took hold inside me and never let go.

Now, a sold 40 years later, I’ve come to realize why: all struggles for autonomy, identity, community, solidarity, and freedom are part of the same great battle for a multi-racial, multi-gendered, multi-spiritual, non-normative world wherein we can each find our way toward the light within the love of others whose journeys might not be the same as ours, but who support our rising toward self-actualization, safety, open-love, and self-expression.

Thus, to commemorate Pride Month 2024, and my hero Tom Robinson’s birthday—I like to imagine that on those hazy nights in 1982 when I met my buddies behind the Unitarian Church to drink shitty wine, or down in Ryk’s basement to smoke weed and listen to music, we were somehow enjoying our first steps on a longer march as we sang—at the top of our little cishet lungs—the lyrics of “Glad to Be Gay” with the Tom Robinson Band blaring on the stereo. I like to imagine that, back then, not entirely conscious of the import of what we were doing, we were somehow beginning to find common cause with a far larger struggle toward the light.

Happy Belated Pride Month, y’all, and Happy Birthday, Tom Robinson—you glorious, gayest, most beautiful punk rocker of them all. You changed my world, and in my small way, I’m trying to carry on the battle so that no one ever has to feel like they’re being left out in the cold.