Led Zeppelin snubbed by the BBC

LED ZEPPELIN were snubbed by the BBC after they took part in a radio audition in 1969.

Archive documents reveal that the rock band were invited to perform but were told they were "old fashioned" and "unconvincing"

And one member of the judging panel said they were "not for daytime radio - specialist listening only", another described them as "derivative" and "unconvincing", while another said they had an "old-fashioned" sound.

The band, best known for Stairway to Heaven, went on to become one of the biggest bands of the 70s and ended up playing several sessions for Radio 1. .

In an interview with BBC 6 Music for a Christmas Day show, Jimmy Page said of the sessions: "We'd showcase the material, whatever there was from the album of the time and for the rest of it we would just jam, and that's how urgent and how creative it all was at the time."

It was also revealed how Page stepped in after Led Zeppelin and the BBC fell out over the sound quality of a 1971 concert recorded for Radio 1.

The day after the broadcast, the band withdrew their approval and wrote to demand that the recording not be made available to the rest of the world.

Page eventually ended up remixing the recording as the group felt "this will be better technically both for the BBC and for us and it will cost the same amount of money".