Playing with sound : Charlie Christian, the electric guitar, and the Swing Era -- Pure tones and solid bodies : Les Paul's new sound -- Mister Guitar : Chet Atkins and the Nashville sound -- Racial distortions : Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, and the electric guitar in Black popular music -- Black sound, black body : Jimi Hendrix, the electric guitar, and the meanings of blackness -- Kick out the jams : the MC5 and the politics of noise -- Heavy music : cock rock, colonialism, and Led Zeppelin.