You Don't Have To Rewrite Bach

I was watching VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs the other night, and they came to "You Really Got Me," the 1964 hit from The Kinks - a band that is "recognized as one of the most important and influential rock acts of the era." This song, their third single, is what catapulted the group into prominence, when it became an international hit, topping the charts in the U.K. (where the band is from) and the U.S.

On this VH1 special, eccentric music icon Iggy Pop commented on how the song influenced him early on in his career.  He noted the very simple guitar riff (da na na na na, da na na na na) that starts the song off and continues throughout the song.  Pop said it made him feel good, that if that sounded good (the simple guitar riff), then he knew that he himself didn't have to "rewrite Bach" when he made his own music.  In other words, in order to make good music, it didn't have to be a complicated or complex process.

The same is of course true when it comes to whatever it is that you've been called to do in life.  You may indeed be a modern day "Bach," being proficient in the more complex aspects of whatever it is that you do.  Or you may be a modern day "Kinks," making simple work out of the things you do.  The point is, be who you are.  If you're a "Bach," don't look down on others.  You are not superior.  You are wired differently, not better, than others.  Or if you're a simpler person who has a "Bach" or two in your life, you may feel inferior or insufficient because you're not like them, but you're not!  You're who you are.  You don't have to "rewrite Bach" in the things you do.