Reviews
"It's hard for me to think of an invention more crucial to my interior life than the electric guitar, so in a way The Birth of Loud, Ian Port's moving, riveting account of the instrument's development and rise to ubiquity, feels like a sacred text--the story of how I came to be. It's also a rich and fascinating tale of obsession, ingenuity, and American abandon. Thank heavens for Les Paul, thank heavens for Leo Fender, and thank heavens for Ian Port." --Amanda Petrusich, author Do Not Sell at Any Price: The Wild, Obsessive Hunt for the World's Rarest 78rpm Records, "Ian Port's found a way to tell the story of the birth of rock 'n' roll--for some of us, among the postwar American stories, those that help define who we feel ourselves to be--in beautifully-evoked dual portraits of the men who made the instruments. In doing so, he re-situates this story in its context so neatly it is as if it had never been told before at all." -- Jonathan Lethem, author of Motherless Brooklyn and The Fortress of Solitude, " The Birth of Loud channels trickles of intriguing new information into a confluence of big ideas about the history of the electric guitar. This book is essential reading for guitar history maniacs!" --Deke Dickerson, guitar historian, bandleader, and author of The Strat in the Attic, "Long before Les Paul and Leo Fender were brand names who revolutionized music and changed culture, they were two guys--obsessively tinkering to recreate sounds in their heads. In The Birth of Loud Ian S. Port vividly captures the compulsion and competition that drove these fascinating oddballs to rock the world." --Alan Light, former editor-in-chief of Vibe and Spin and author of The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley and the Unlikely Ascent of "Hallelujah", "A rip-roaring journey through the early days of rock 'n' roll, told through the lives of the men whose innovative guitars helped usher it into existence . . . A lively, difficult-to-put-down portrait of an important era of American art that enhances readers' appreciation for the music it depicts." --Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review), New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice "In The Birth of Loud, Ian S. Port has sorted out the facts of the electric guitar's much-mythologized genesis and cultural conquest. He turns them into a hot-rod joy ride through mid-20th-century American history. With appropriately flashy prose, he dismantles some misconceptions and credits some nearly forgotten but key figures. He also summons, exuberantly and perceptively, the look, sound, and sometimes smell of pivotal scenes and songs. The Birth of Loud rightfully celebrates an earlier time, when wood, steel, copper wire, microphones and loudspeakers could redefine reality. Tracing material choices that echoed through generations, the book captures the quirks of human inventiveness and the power of sound." --Jon Pareles, New York Times Book Review, "A page-turning look at two central players [Leo Fender and Les Paul] in the sonic evolution of popular music. Port explores their trials and tribulations with an expert hand. This is a long-overdue cultural biography of music innovation. VERDICT: Thoroughly entertaining and deeply informative, this love letter to American creativity and rock and roll belongs in every library and should be read by all rock fans." --Library Journal (Starred Review), "This smartly written and genuinely exciting book walks us through the bitter rivalry between Fender and Gibson and, since there is no way to tell this story without telling the story of rock 'n' roll itself, also provides a jaunty if necessarily abbreviated history of rock. For music buffs, this one is special." -- Booklist, "Lushly descriptive and detailed...[the book] is richly illustrative in bringing these rock giants and the tools of their trade to life in a squall of beautiful feedback." --Publishers Weekly, " The Birth of Loud is more than history, journalism or criticism--it's a killer rock 'n' roll story, complete with money, egos, star power and, yes, electric guitars." --Steve Knopper, author of MJ: The Genius of Michael Jackson and Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age, "More than an essential, colorful, and gripping history of the electric guitar, The Birth of Loud introduces Ian Port, the best new non-fiction writer of the past twenty years." --Daniel J. Levitin, author of This Is Your Brain on Music, "[The] definitive history of the electric guitar and its two foundational personalities [Leo Fender and Les Paul]. Theirs is a fascinating and compelling story, especially in the hands of a writer as committed to lively narrative . . . Port can spin out evocative, succinct rock 'n' roll writing with the best of them." --The New York Journal of Books
