I don’t know what’s the most bizarre point here – that Dolenz had to sue to get the files, or that the FBI was keeping files on the subversive activities of the PreFab Four.
Maybe the files were stored at Mar al Lago.
It was a different time, you understand.
The world had gone crazy. The FBI was seeing subversives under every paisley toadstool, grass was the gateway drug to losing the values that made this country great, the president kept an enemies list, and even saying you didn’t like the War was undermining this great country and giving aid and comfort to the enemy! Those damn hippies were an existential threat to Our Way of Life!
And so, they saw a threat from a band that was essentially a preteen-safe Beatles. Might as well have said the Archies were pinkos.
So the Monkees proved them right by releasing a trippy drug dream film that was unintelligible at any speed.
And I just love the phrase “left wing innovations of a political nature.”
gasp
I didn’t know Michael Naismith kicked the bucket!
As far as FBI files go, I probably have one. In college, I sent a letter to Nixon protesting the mining of Haiphong harbor.
~VOW
Last December (and it’s “Nesmith” - “Naismith” was the basketball guy). A talented man.
Not surprising the F.B.I. would’ve been suspicious of the Monkees - their '67 tour had Jimi Hendrix opening for them…for awhile, anyway.
"The Jimi Hendrix Experience played just eight of the 29 scheduled tour dates,” writes Mental Floss, “and then on July 16, 1967, Jimi flipped the Forest Hills, Queens, New York, audience off, threw down his guitar and walked away from Monkeemania.”
I’ve made the same mistake many times, believe me.
Anyway, I hope Mickey gets the documents he wants. At this point the FBI shouldn’t be sugarcoating its behaviors of the Vietnam era. 50 years is long enough for the truth to come out.
Micky should be able to see it, but I’m curious who decides which FBI docs are made public and which aren’t? I assume it’s a federal judge, and the FBI may try to keep it sealed, if only to protect their sources, assuming they’re still alive.
For comparison, here’s the full report of the FBI investigation into whether Louie Louie was obscene (they decided it wasn’t.) The file is 118 pages thick. The FBI may have been crazy, but at least they were thorough.
Speaking of Nesmith…it’s going to be ironic if they reveal the documents only to find out that they are heavily redacted with white-out.
http://www.feelnumb.com/2010/03/04/liquid-paper-and-the-monkees/
I hope it’s OK to ask, what’s the point. We already knew that Hoover was nearly insane.
Wouldn’t you be curious if it was you?
When I saw the captialization in this thread’s title, I wondered what Levon Helm and Robbie Robinson had done to piss off J. Edgar.
Agreed – I suspect it’s a combination of (a) a desire to know, and (b) the right to know. I have a hard time believing that there’s any good reason for any of those files to still be redacted or otherwise unavailable.
Now I’m wondering if there is a file on The Princess Bride. The line about never getting involved in a land war in Asia might be considered pretty subversive to those of a certain mindset.
Robbie Robertson?
Perhaps “The Weight” was actually about J Edgar Hoover!
Yes, and to bring my blooper full circle, I always mix up the names of the Band’s songwriter/guitarist with the bodybuilding champion, who was very familiar with “weights”.