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The last surviving member of 1960s rock band The Monkees is suing the FBI in an effort to get the agency to hand over its records on the group.
Micky Dolenz sang and played the drums for what was then one of the most popular bands in the United States, but sparked government interest for supposedly featuring “anti-US messages on the war in Vietnam” and broadcasting Left-wing “subliminal messages” during a 1967 concert.
The Monkees (from left, Michael Nesmith, Peter Tork, Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz) during the band’s heyday.
The FBI created a file on the band and its members, portions of which were released in 2011, but now Dolenz, 77, wants to see the entire records.
“This lawsuit seeks to expose why the FBI was monitoring the Monkees and/or its individual members,” lawyer Mark Zaid said in a statement.
“We know the mid-to-late 1960s saw the FBI surveil Hollywood anti-war advocates, and those who represented the counter-culture of the flower/hippie/drug use movement. And the Monkees were in the thick of things,” he added.
The group became widely known in the late 1960s for hits including I’m a Believer and Last Train to Clarksville.
They are the only band to ever have four number one albums in one year in the US, setting that record in 1967. But some songs caught the attention of authorities as the country became more heavily involved in the Vietnam war.
In Last Train to Clarksville - about a man heading to an army base - the band sang: “Take the last train to Clarksville. Now I must hang up the phone... I don’t know if I’m ever coming home.”