The FBI kept a file on the Monkees, and now the beloved California pop band’s last surviving member wants to know why.
On Tuesday, Micky Dolenz filed a lawsuit requesting that the FBI release all files and documents pertaining to the popular 1960s band.
According to legal documents filed through Dolenz’s attorney, Mark S. Zaid, the suit is “designed to obtain any records the FBI created and/or possesses on the Monkees as well as its individual members.”
In 2011, the FBI released a heavily redacted file on the band. The document, which included notes from an FBI informant who attended a show during the Monkees’ 1967 tour, claims “subliminal messages were depicted on the screen” and were of a “political nature” related to the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement.
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“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 from the audience,” the FBI report said.
Dolenz’s new lawsuit says he and his fellow bandmates “both in their own right and as a group, were known to have associated with other musicians and individuals whose activities were monitored and/or investigated by the FBI to include, but not limited to: John Winston Lennon (and the three other Beatles as well) and Jimi Hendrix.”
The suit alleges that Dolenz submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the FBI in June of this year, only to receive no response after his request was assigned a reference number.
As a result of having “exhausted all necessary required administrative remedies,” Dolenz now wants the FBI “to disclose non-exempt copies of the requested records in their entirety and make copies promptly available” to him.
Dolenz, 77, was a founding member of the Monkees, alongside his bandmates Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork and Davy Jones. The group formed in 1966 for a TV series of the same name and racked up numerous hits including “I’m a Believer,” “Daydream Believer” and “Pleasant Valley Sunday.”
From Woodstock to Coachella: 50 historic music festivals
A look back at 60 years of historic music festivals
1958: Newport Jazz Festival
1965: Newport Folk Festival
1967: Monterey Pop Festival
1967: Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival
1968: Miami Pop Festival
1968: Northern California Folk-Rock Festival
1969: Woodstock Music & Art Fair
1969: Toronto Rock and Roll Revival
1970: Isle of Wight
1970: New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
1971: Glastonbury
1973: Astrodome Jazz Festival
1973: Summer Jam at Watkins Glen
1974: Ozark Music Festival
1975: Schaefer Festival
1976: San Francisco Kool Jazz Festival
1978: Texxas World Music Festival
1979: World’s Greatest Funk Festival
1980: Heatwave
1983: US Festival
1985: Farm Aid
1985: Rock in Rio
1991: Lollapalooza
1992: Reading Festival
1994: Woodstock
1995: Beale Street Music Festival
1996: Warped Tour
1997: Bridge School Benefit
1998: Tibetan Freedom Concert
1999: Coachella
1999: Woodstock
2000: Glastonbury
2000: Detroit Electronic Music Festival
2001: Summer Jam
2002: Austin City Limits
2002: Bonnaroo
2004: Coachella
2004: Dave Chappelle’s Block Party
2005: Sasquatch!
2006: Street Scene
2007: Pitchfork
2008: Lollapalooza
2009: Bonnaroo
2010: Lollapalooza
2011: Austin City Limits
2012: Coachella
2013: Riot Fest
2015: Camp Flog Gnaw
2016: Desert Trip
2017: FYF Fest
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