Elton? Dull and pretentious. Bowie? Out of tune...BBC talent spotter of the 1960s verdict on future stars Elton John labelled a 'dull performer with a thin voice' David Bowie panned as 'amateurish and out of tune' Future superstars dismissed by BBC talent bosses in the 1960s By Simon Cable Showbusiness Correspondent Dull: Sir Elton John (pictured here in 1968) was branded 'dull and pretentious' by BBC talent scouts The short, geeky singer with the glasses failed to impress the BBC's talent spotters. He was a dull performer with a thin voice, they declared. As for his songs, they were pretentious. Rather embarrassing, in hindsight, for the BBC's Talent Selection Group, as their subject was Elton John. The year was 1968. They were equally scathing about David Bowie, who they wrote off as amateurish and out of tune. The future superstars were among aspiring artists dismissed by BBC talent spotters in the early days of their careers, documents have revealed. All were required to have an audition in front of the now defunct selection panel before they were allowed to perform on radio and TV shows. The Rolling Stones also fell foul of the panel, rebuffed in 1963 as "unsuitable for our purposes." Elton performed three songs in front of producers - All Across the Havens, Lady Samantha and Skyline Pigeon. They said: "The items are not songs. Pretentious material, self-written, sung in an extremely dull fashion without any feeling and precious little musical ability. Thin, piercing voice with NO emotion. Not a tuneful voice. A producer added: "He writes dreary songs and he sounds like a wonky singer." Despite the appraisal, a tape of Elton John's audition was passed on to BBC bosses, who agreed he would be able to perform. Bowie was not so lucky in 1965. He performed a version of Chim Chim Cher-ee, from the Mary Poppins film. Scathing: The reviewers wrote David Bowie (pictured here in 1966) off as 'amateurish and out of tune' How wrong could you be? David Bowie (left) has an impressive career behind him while Elton John (right) has a wildly successful career and performs all over the globe Who they liked...And who they didn't The producers said: "Amateur sounding vocalist who sings wrong notes and out of tune." The Who turned up in February 1965 with two members arriving 25 minutes late. "Not endowed with much sense of urgency," wrote the producer. Overall, not very original and below standard. Simon and Garfunkel and Nick Drake impressed, but Marc Bolan's music was described as "c**p, and pretentious c**p at that." The verdicts are revealed in a Radio 4 documentary Auditioning For Auntie, due to air next week. Marc Bolan's music was described as 'c**p, and pretentious c**p at that' The BBC's head of popular music during the 1960s, Donald McLean, said of the "Civil-Service-style" talent spotters: "They were nice people, but very old fashioned. The man I had to persuade to give me the budget and the air time to get a John Peel series had made his name by writing a book called Poultry Keeping For Profit. Another reject, Judy Dyble, a singer with Fairport Convention, described the audition process as "like being interviewed for a job, with three people sitting behind a table. It was still in those days when BBC technicians wore lab coats. Before the launch of Radio 1 in 1967, the BBC broadcast little more than two hours a week of recorded pop music. Shows on BBC Radio's The Light Programme such as Saturday Club, The Talent Spot and Top Gear were virtually the only place for pop performers to get exposure in the early 1960s.