Wednesday, December 16, 2009

BBC Found Led Zeppelin "Old Fashioned"

Led Zeppelin were labeled "old fashioned" and "unconvincing" by BBC producers when the group took part in a radio audition in 1969.

Documents from the BBC's archive reveal that producers invited the group to appear on a trial basis only and criticized their performance.

However, the group eventually went on to play several sessions for Radio 1.

One member of the 1969 audition panel said the band were "not for daytime radio - specialist listening only", while another described them as "derivative" and "unconvincing".

And, according to a third, the group had "an old-fashioned sound".

In an interview with BBC 6 Music for a Christmas Day show, Jimmy Page said of the sessions they went on to play: "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."

Documents have 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, Led Zeppelin withdrew their approval.

They wrote to demand that the recording not be made available to the rest of the world.

Page eventually ended up remixing the recording.

A BBC memo shows the group felt "this will be better technically both for the BBC and for us and it will cost the same amount of money". To read more from the BBC go here.

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