The Monkees: The Biggest Mistake in the Secret FBI File Micky Dolenz Wants Released
Micky Dolenz is suing the FBI over the agency’s secret file on The Monkees. The 77-year-old musician hopes to view the complete file, which is currently redacted, first written in 1967. Dolenz is curious to learn why the FBI was interested in the band. However, this secret file has a big mistake, which lies on its very first page.
How much of a threat were The Monkees to national security in the late 1960s?
The Monkees were put together as a way to capitalize on the popularity of The Beatles for television. Dolenz, Mike Nesmith, Peter Tork, and Davy Jones were hired to star in the NBC series about a struggling band. However, the popularity of the series and its music turned the quartet into bonafide stars.
The Monkees starred in two seasons of the lighthearted, family-friendly series for the peacock network. The episodes, 58 in all, aired from 1966 through 1968.
The series began as more of a lighthearted riff on struggling musicians’ lives. However, as it ended, the show tried to become edgier. It was the first to use the word “hell” on television (although censors bleeped it), and it featured a suspicious-looking plant that emitted a suspicious smell that calmed those near it during its finale episode.
To promote the series, The Monkees toured the world, performing the songs released on six albums. They appeared to be one of the least offensive bands of the era, or were they?
The band sprinkled anti-war sentiments into songs like “Ditty Diego-War Chant” and “Last Train to Clarksville.” The Monkees used images of war in their first and only feature film, Head. However, was that enough for the FBI to investigate them?
The first page of the FBI file on The Monkees has its biggest mistake
The complete FBI file on the band is available to view as part of the bureau’s vault. It is heavily redacted.
Dolenz is suing the FBI to see the complete contents of its file. However, the biggest mistake in the file lies on its first page. In heavy black type, the document is titled “The Monkeys.”
The third page of the document has a filing date of July 24, 1967. The investigative period ran for three months, from March through June of that same year.
Much of the document is redacted. However, a few statements remain. Page 4 claims the band employed “additional activities denouncing the U.S. policy on the war in Vietnam.” The following page describes the series as “four young men who dress as ‘beatnik’ types”.
An agent who attended a 1967 show wrote the following in the report.
“The Monkees concert used a device in the form of a screen set up behind the performers who played certain instruments and sang as a ‘combo.’ During the concert, subliminal messages were depicted on the screen which, in the opinion of (name redacted), constituted ‘left-wing innovations of a political nature.'” the file 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 an unfavorable response from the audience.”
Dolenz’s lawyer says ‘anything’ could be in the FBI file
Dolenz’s lawyer Mark. S. Zaid said the following to Rolling Stone regarding the case.
“The Monkees reflected, especially in their later years with projects like [their 1968 art house movie] Head, a counterculture from what institutional authority was at the time,” Zaid explained. “And [J. Edgar] Hoover’s FBI, in the Sixties, in particular, was infamous for monitoring the counterculture, whether they committed unlawful actions or not.”
Zaid submitted a standard Freedom of Information Act request in June. The FBI is legally required to comply within 20 working days. Zaid and Dolenz are headed to court because the bureau did not meet that deadline.
“I tell all my clients, ‘If you are serious about getting your documents, then we need to litigate it.’ From here, we’ll be assigned a judge within a matter of a few days. After that, the process will start.
“The redacted information may be peripheral to them,” he continued. “Some likely reflect an informant’s identity, which was probably the person attending the concerts.
“Theoretically, anything could be in those files, though,” he concluded. “We have no idea what records even exist. It could be almost nothing. But we’ll see soon enough.”
