"You have got to make new music, that is the way that I look at it anyway"
About this Quote
The phrasing matters. "You have got to" is blunt, almost parental; it's obligation, not inspiration. Then he undercuts his own authority with "that is the way that I look at it anyway", a small rhetorical retreat that reads as both humility and defiance. He's not preaching from a pedestal, he's staking a personal claim while daring you to disagree. That tension mirrors the cultural pressure on legacy artists: audiences want the old hits, the artist wants forward motion, and the industry wants whatever sells with the least risk.
For Bach, whose public identity has long been tied to a particular era and sound, the subtext is also about refusing to be trapped by branding. "New music" becomes a way to reclaim agency from the audience's expectations and the market's tendency to freeze musicians in amber. It's not about novelty for novelty's sake; it's about insisting that a living artist should sound alive.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Bach, Sebastian. (2026, January 16). You have got to make new music, that is the way that I look at it anyway. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/you-have-got-to-make-new-music-that-is-the-way-129300/
Chicago Style
Bach, Sebastian. "You have got to make new music, that is the way that I look at it anyway." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/you-have-got-to-make-new-music-that-is-the-way-129300/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"You have got to make new music, that is the way that I look at it anyway." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/you-have-got-to-make-new-music-that-is-the-way-129300/. Accessed 8 Feb. 2026.



