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The Birth of Loud

Leo Fender, Les Paul, and the Guitar-Pioneering Rivalry That Shaped Rock 'n' Roll

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The Birth of Loud

By: Ian S. Port
Narrated by: Pete Simonelli
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About this listen

 “A hot-rod joy ride through mid-20th-century American history” (The New York Times Book Review), this one-of-a-kind narrative masterfully recreates the rivalry between the two men who innovated the electric guitar’s amplified sound—Leo Fender and Les Paul—and their intense competition to convince rock stars like the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, and Eric Clapton to play the instruments they built.

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). Business Aspects Music Social Sciences Celebrity Guitar Musician Rock History
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I've listened to this three times now over a couple of years and enjoyed it each time. the story of the two most well known names is brilliant....the narration is good and brings the world that us 'oldies' lived through and the social change bought by guitars and well known characters to life. thoroughly recommend!

A must for guitar fans

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Surprisingly good book. So much so I have written a review and I cannot remember the last time I did that. I was introduced to people who played a huge part in the development of modern music yet I had no prior knowledge of them ( Carole Kaye, Paul Bigsby etc) The book flows, well researched and I highly recommend it

Must read/listen for every modern music lover

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Ok. I’m a guitar freak, but this is a beautifully written and performed history of ‘modern’ guitar music. The author tends to concentrate on Fender’s story, but it doesn’t detract from the overall narrative. He mostly discusses Gibson through the optic of Les Paul. Regardless, I’m splitting hairs, it’s truly wonderful.

Absolutely beautiful book… possibly perfect

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I did not like the writing in the very first few pages--at all--- but the rest of the book is quite good.

Researched, good story

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