2026 08 22 I Miss the Different Regional Cultures of America

- 2 minutes read - 381 words

As a toddler, growing up between Louisiana and Houston, I remember listening to the radio with my parents, and the announcers would tell me one critical fact about each band: where they were from. I remember learning, later, on MTV, that Journey was from San Francisco. And in the street garages of the Sunset, the docks and warehouses of South of Market and Mission Creek, in whatever it was that made them look tough despite the fact that Steve Perry had the voice of an angel, that told me something about San Francisco.

Likewise, growing up in Houston, it mattered to me that ZZ Top were Texas heroes. They were like me. They were like us.

Similarly, it was no surprise to learn that Blondie was different, that she was from New York. And later, that others were correctly placed too: Juice Newton, Kim Carnes, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, each recognizably from somewhere.

That urbane, icy cool of the Cars made you dream of a far-off place called Boston.

But now music is made somewhere in Century City, where half a dozen suits get together over macrobiotic, calorie-aware lunches to hash out kinder-Lolita-themed lyrics.

As Rick Beato points out on his YouTube channel, the idea that Sabrina Carpenter is pushing the boundaries of propriety is ridiculous. Let’s be honest: her hit songs are produced by a trio of suits, and she gets a writing credit too. This is mass-manufactured, homogenized, normalized sentiment, devoid of personality and region.

I miss when the glorious regions of my country could show their unique character while still being recognizable, the way ZZ Top were to me. In an age of so much division, I have to wonder if part of the problem is that the small doses of regional pride were boiled out of the system, and we’ve all been reduced to California gray goo. I looked at a recent map of my alma mater and noticed that California’s pride burger stand, In-N-Out, is now on the University of Texas drag. First music, then television, and now eateries. From sea to shining sea it’ll be CVS, minimart, Target, In-N-Out, Carl’s Jr., McDonald’s, repeat. We have lost something very, very dear beyond the classic university eateries: Player’s Burgers, Pluckers Chicken, you live forever in my memory.