The Birth of Loud

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

De: Ian S. Port

Narrado por: Pete Simonelli

Duración: 9 h y 49 m

Resumen del Editor

A riveting saga in the history of rock ‘n’ roll: the decades-long 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 the primordial elements of 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 outmaneuvered, 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 from rural Orange County, Paul was a brilliant but egomaniacal 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 the time Jimi Hendrix played “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Woodstock in 1969 on his Fender Stratocaster, it was clear that electric instruments - Fender or Gibson - had launched music into a radical new age, empowering artists with a vibrancy and volume never before attainable.

©2019 Ian S. Port (P)2019 Simon & Schuster

The Best Book I've Read This Year

At 63 and having played guitar and bass for 48 years, I finally learned the story behind the instruments I've been performing on. Fender, Gibson, Music Man and Rickenbacker. The story kept my attention throughout. The narrator was just perfect for this book. Highly recommend you listen to this one.

A must listen for any musician or guitar aficionado

I’ve read a couple of books on the history of Fender and Rock and Roll in general. As a musician and fellow amp and guitar tinkerer, I fully understand the passion Les and Leo had. To this day the music world owes a lot of credit to Leo and Les as well as all the musicians that discovered what did and didn’t work for them as performers. In their own ways Leo and Les created/helped create guitars that stood the test of time and perhaps will never be surpassed sonically for many genres in my opinion.

Well done!!

Excellent telling of the real story, in contrast to the myths and tales that all us guitar players think we know about “the big two”, Fender and Gibson.

What a Gold Mine!!!!!

If you are a long time musician like me, then you will absolutely enjoy this book: “The Birth of Loud.” I have played both Fender and Gibson guitars, but never really knew about their origins. I own a Fender Stratocaster and a Gibson Les Paul. But with this book, I learned more about their history. If you want to find out how these iconic guitars came about, GET AND KEEP THIS BOOK! I’m ordering a hard copy. I loved it so much. It was very well written and very informative. You’ll never stop listening to it or putting it downs. Enjoy and be prepared for an interesting education about the evolution of the Gibson and Fender electric guitars!

loved it

great listen. as a recreational guitar played but a lover of the hardware, it's a great history.

not much of a heated rivalry

more of the story of two innovators in the right time than it was a true rivalry where there was any real conflict.

better as a history of how the electric guitar became the dominant instrument for half a century.

Excellent listen

Great book and narration on the birth of the solid body electric guitar. I learned a few new things about Leo's and Les's lives. Definitely worth the read or listen.

Truly great!

Impressively researched and full of incredible information, the author expertly weaves the history of the electric guitar with the biography of the people behind the instruments and the larger cultural context in which they operated. We’ll written and full of great stories. I really loved this.

A fantastic story!!

Anyone who has the least little interest in guitar based music really should read (listen) to this book! It’s such an intriguing story of two men and one woman who through their efforts enabled the electric guitar to become the iconic instrument it is today!! The narrator has a pleasant voice and pacing that makes the book a pleasure to listen too. I only wish the story was longer!

Could not stop listening!

This was easily one of the most interesting stories I’ve come across. It inspired me to go back and re-listen to all the old music I’d cast aside so despondently, and allowed me to listen with new ears. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and within hours of the first day I started listening, posted about how great I thought it on fb. History is as important to the past as it is to the future!