The FBI is being sued by the final surviving Monkee for what he calls a “secret dossier” the organization allegedly has on him and his erstwhile comrades.
Former frontman for the well-known British-American group from the 1960s, Micky Dolenz, now 77, filed the complaint through his lawyer Mark Zaid, a music enthusiast and freedom of information specialist who told Rolling Stone that it would be “fun.”
According to Zaid, he was introduced to Dolenz through mutual acquaintances. Dolenz’s band is known for such songs as I’m a Believer, Last Train to Clarksville, and Daydream Believer.
It could be interesting to check if the FBI had a file on Dolenz or his former bandmates, Zaid reportedly told Dolenz, according to Rolling Stone. Zaid quickly discovered that such a document indeed exists and that a severely redacted, seven-page excerpt was made public in 2011.
The FBI file’s cover on the agency’s website incorrectly calls them “the Monkeys.” Except that it was the Vietnam War era and the government was sensitive to criticism from well-known Hollywood celebrities and pop artists, the documents offer little hints as to why the band was of interest to federal officials.
Almost the entire page is blacked out in a section titled “Additional activities condemning the US policy in the conflict in Vietnam.” However, the file did characterize the Monkees as a “very successful” group that mostly catered to teenagers and consisted of “four young males who dress as “beatnik types”.”
According to the report, “subliminal messages were presented on the screen during a Monkees concert and, in the view of” an agent whose name is redacted, “constituted ‘left-wing innovations of a political nature including video footage of ‘anti-US messages on the war in Vietnam’.”
The Monkees were not renowned for being an overtly political band because they were made for television; nonetheless, the song Last Train to Clarksville was about a guy who was going to war and was unsure of whether he would ever see his loved ones again.
The band’s whole FBI file and any individual files on Dolenz and his late bandmates, Davy Jones, Peter Tork, and Michael Nesmith, were among the items Zaid claimed he requested in typical freedom of information request he made in June.
Zaid claimed that after receiving no response from the agency, he decided to move forward with the lawsuit.
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