The Birth of Loud: Leo Fender, Les Paul, and the Guitar-Pioneering Rivalry That Shaped Rock 'n' Roll
Written by Ian S. Port
Narrated by Pete Simonelli
5/5
()
About this audiobook
In the years after World War II, music was evolving from big-band jazz into rock ’n’ roll—and these louder styles demanded revolutionary instruments. When Leo Fender’s tiny firm marketed the first solid-body electric guitar, the Esquire, musicians immediately saw its appeal. Not to be out-maneuvered, Gibson, the largest guitar manufacturer, raced to build a competitive product. The company designed an “axe” that would make Fender’s Esquire look cheap and convinced Les Paul—whose endorsement Leo Fender had sought—to put his name on it. Thus was born the guitar world’s most heated rivalry: Gibson versus Fender, Les versus Leo.
While Fender was a quiet, half-blind, self-taught radio repairman, Paul was a brilliant but headstrong pop star and guitarist who spent years toying with new musical technologies. Their contest turned into an arms race as the most inventive musicians of the 1950s and 1960s—including bluesman Muddy Waters, rocker Buddy Holly, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Eric Clapton—adopted one maker’s guitar or another. By 1969 it was clear that these new electric instruments had launched music into a radical new age, empowering artists with a vibrancy and volume never before attainable.
In “an excellent dual portrait” (The Wall Street Journal), Ian S. Port tells the full story in The Birth of Loud, offering “spot-on human characterizations, and erotic paeans to the bodies of guitars” (The Atlantic). “The story of these instruments is the story of America in the postwar era: loud, cocky, brash, aggressively new” (The Washington Post).
Ian S. Port
Ian S. Port is an award-winning writer and music critic whose work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Village Voice, The Threepenny Review, and The Believer, among others. He is also the former music editor of the San Francisco Weekly. A lifelong guitar player and California native, he and his wife now live in New York City. The Birth of Loud is his first book.
Related to The Birth of Loud
Related audiobooks
Twilight of the Gods: A Journey to the End of Classic Rock Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stone Free: Jimi Hendrix in London, September 1966–June 1967 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Van Halen Rising: How a Southern California Backyard Party Band Saved Heavy Metal Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Up Jumped the Devil: The Real Life of Robert Johnson Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Wrecking Crew: The Inside Story of Rock and Roll's Best-Kept Secret Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dirty Blvd.: The Life and Music of Lou Reed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The History of Rock & Roll, Volume 2: 1964–1977: The Beatles, the Stones, and the Rise of Classic Rock Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5That Thin, Wild Mercury Sound: Dylan, Nashville, and the Making of Blonde on Blonde Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The History of Rock & Roll: Volume 1: 1920-1963 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ringo: With a Little Help Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Somewhere You Feel Free: Tom Petty and Los Angeles Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wild Thing: The Short, Spellbinding Life of Jimi Hendrix Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Show That Never Ends: The Rise and Fall of Prog Rock Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Beatles: The Biography Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Never a Dull Moment: 1971—The Year That Rock Exploded Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maximum Volume: The Life of Beatles Producer George Martin, The Early Years, 1926–1966 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Goodnight, L.A.: Untold Tales from Inside Classic Rock's Legendary Recording Studios Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Delta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Unchained: The Eddie Van Halen Story Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5So Many Roads: The Life and Times of the Grateful Dead Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anthem: Rush in the 1970s Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Long Strange Trip: The Inside History of the Grateful Dead Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Skydog: The Duane Allman Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Robert Plant: A Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mysteries in the Music: Case Closed Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sellout: The Major-Label Feeding Frenzy That Swept Punk, Emo, and Hardcore (1994–2007) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Robert Plant: The Voice that Sailed the Zeppelin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Change of Seasons: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Music For You
No Bull Music Theory for Guitarists: Master the Essential Knowledge All Guitarists Need To Know Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Music Lesson: A Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Language of the Spirit: An Introduction to Classical Music Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Paris: The Memoir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gold Dust Woman: The Biography of Stevie Nicks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Perfect Union of Contrary Things Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sweat the Technique: Revelations on Creativity from the Lyrical Genius Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sing From Within: A guide to developing a dynamic singing voice using techniques used by the professionals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Effortless Mastery: Liberating the Master Musician Within, Book & Includes Online Downloadable code Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Storyteller: Expanded: ...Because There's More to the Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fail Until You Don't: Fight Grind Repeat Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Split Decision: Life Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Autobiography of Gucci Mane Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Where Are Your Boys Tonight?: The Oral History of Emo's Mainstream Explosion 1999-2008 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Relativity: The Special and General Theory Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Heroin Diaries: Ten Year Anniversary Edition: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rememberings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Open Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The FBI War on Tupac Shakur: The State Repression of Black Leaders from the Civil Rights Era to the 1990s Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5More Myself: A Journey Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Killing the Legends: The Lethal Danger of Celebrity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for The Birth of Loud
47 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5If you play or love listening to the electric guitar or bass, you will love this book. A fascinating history of the two ‘fathers’ of the solid body electric, and a history of rock, the people and the instruments. Really enjoyed it. One of the few books I know I’ll listen to again to pick up anything I missed the first time through b
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Great history for anyone especially for a guitar player. I’m going to listen to it again!
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I learned so much about the instruments i played the last 40 years, stratocaster, twin reverb, jazz bass. And all the musicians i loved, Hendrix, Clapton,
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5If you play guitar, this is a “must read”- fascinating and well written book about the history of guitar making and the colorful people intertwined with creating music.
1 person found this helpful