In 1967, the Monkees played multiple shows in the United States and the United Kingdom on their first-ever tour. An FBI file released to the public in 2011 revealed that at least one FBI informant attended a 1967 Monkees concert in Los Angeles. Now, Micky Dolenz—the last surviving member of the group—has filed a lawsuit in order to receive other FBI records collected on the Monkees, as Rolling Stone reports.
The new suit alleges that Dolenz and his bandmates “were known to have associated with other musicians and individuals whose activities were monitored and/or investigated by the FBI,” including the Beatles (John Lennon, in particular) and Jimi Hendrix, among others.
In 2011, several pages of FBI records were made available to the public, which revealed that the FBI was interested in the projections that played behind the band’s live sets. “During the concert, subliminal messages were depicted on the screen which, in the opinion of [redacted informant’s name], constituted ‘left wing intervention of a political nature,’” the document reads. “These messages and pictures were flashes of riots in Berkeley, anti-U.S. messages on the war in Vietnam, racial riots in Selma, Alabama, and similar messages which had received unfavorable response[s] from the audience.”
Earlier this year, Dolenz filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in hopes of receiving the rest of the Monkees’ FBI file, and is now suing the FBI based on the agency’s lack of timely response to the FOIA request. “This lawsuit is designed to obtain any records the FBI created and/or possessed on the Monkees as well as its individual members (with all records concerning the deceased members processed pursuant to FOIA and with respect to Mr. Dolenz under both PA [the Privacy Act] and FOIA,” the new lawsuit reads.
In a statement shared with Pitchfork, Dolenz’ lawyer Mark S. Zaid said that he’s “been a Monkees’ fan [his] entire life” and is committed to holding the FBI accountable. “FOIA is an important tool to ensure the public can learn about what our government is up to, whether involving an individual—famous or not—or a group,” Zaid wrote. “The FBI monitored musicians such as the Monkees during the tumultuous 1960s and this new lawsuit is designed to determine just how far their efforts went.”
The FBI National Press Office offered no comment when reached by Pitchfork.
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