Fans of veteran rock group have admitted they avoided the band in their youth due to a terrifying rumour.

The now-rubbished legend of Satanic symbolism in one of the group's best songs seems to have left an impact on those who grew up with the band's music. Music-lovers took to a thread and shared their stories of avoiding Stairway to Heaven, the iconic song from Led Zeppelin's fourth album, Led Zeppelin IV.

Now considered one of the greatest songs of all time, the eight-minute masterpiece has been cemented in rock history. But a more negative attitude towards the song was around at the time of its release.

Televangelist Paul Crouch Jr is believed to have made the claim over Led Zeppelin's lyrics and said playing the record backwards would reveal its sinister links to the Devil. He claimed if you started at the line "If there's a bustle in your hedgerow" and worked backwards, you would receive lyrics which praised Satan.

Led Zeppelin member Robert Plant rubbished the claim, saying: "Who on Earth would have ever thought of doing that? You've got to have a lot of time on your hands to even consider that people would do that."

One user asked the r/exmormon group: "Were you ever told to avoid the song Stairway to Heaven? I was." Other users shared they too were told to keep well away from the and -written song. One user confirmed they were around for the "Satanic panic" controversy levelled at the song, where the public alleged if you played the track backwards, devilish worship could be heard.

One user wrote: "Oh yes! I was in high school for the Satanic Panic! I had a seminary teacher (in Logan UT) who played us audio of a guy derailing all the masked messages from Zep, Beatles, etc. KISS and AC/DC were acronyms for these Satanic bands’ real intent. After school, I went home and listened to my Black Sabbath and Zeppelin records."

Another wrote: "I’m so glad I wasn’t alive for the panic. I was able to enjoy D&D happily. Unfortunately we had the witch panic of though." A third added: "One of my Young Men's leaders brought in a record player and Led Zep album to show us how the song was Satanic.

"We played it slow, played it fast, played it backwards, all while he was saying 'See? Did you hear that? Right there it sounded like he said stairway to hell! This is definitely Satanic!' I think it had the opposite effect on most of us. Now 40 years later I still love Led Zeppelin!"

Some even recalled fireside events where the scary nature of the band's music was explained to younger audiences. One wrote: "Yep. Went to a fireside at BYU in the early 80s and the guy was on fire about the evils of rock music and he did play Stairway to Heaven backwards. I got all crazy and threw out my music that he talked about. Even my TBM friends were like what the hell?"

Others questioned the logic of the rubbished rumour, with one writing: "What I’ve always wondered is why is it 'Satanic' when it sounds wacky and distorted to the point of being unintelligible? If that’s how Satan sounds, no one has anything to fear from him…because he’s too unintelligible to communicate."

Not everyone was deprived of Led Zeppelin's music at the time, though. One user shared: "My dad lived the life in the 60s and shared his album collection with us. Zeppelin was one of the greats." Another added: "The song was played at every ward and stake dance I went to as a teen in Upstate NY."