Micky Dolenz Sues FBI For Release Of Agency's Documents On The Monkees

Micky Dolenz and his lawyer want to know what the FBI found while monitoring The Monkees in the '60s.

Last decade it was revealed that an FBI informant attended at Monkees concert in 1967 with the purpose of crafting a report on the sitcom stars-turned-pop group. A select portion of the file was released publicly in 2011, and it suggests that the performance only aroused further suspicions.

"During the concert, subliminal messages were depicted on the screen which, in the opinion of [informant's name redacted], constituted 'left-wing intervention of a political nature,'" reads and excerpt from the FBI's file. "These messages and pictures were flashed of riots, in Berkley, anti-U.S. messages on the war in Vietnam, racial riots in Selma, Ala., and similar messages which had unfavorable response[s] from the audience."

Dolenz wants to see the complete Monkees file. He previously attempted to have the rest of it released via a Freedom of Information Act request in June but the requisite 20 days passed with no response. (The FBI is presumably overwhelmed by FOIA requests.)

Dolenz's new lawsuit filed with attorney and longtime Monkees fan Mark S. Zaid is a tactic to have the documents released in a more timely fashion. The suit demands "any records the FBI created and/or possesses on the Monkees as well as its individual members."

The FBI under J. Edgar Hoover's direction "was infamous for monitoring the counterculture, whether they committed unlawful actions or not," Zaid told Rolling Stone.

Other artists investigated by the FBI in the '60s and '70s included John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley and many others.

Zaid said he suggested to Dolenz years ago that they inquire about a file on the Monkees. After reading the seven-page portion of the document revealed in 2011, Zaid says he and Dolenz are serious about getting the whole scope of the FBI's surveillance on the band.

"Theoretically, anything could be in those files, though," Zaid said.

A judge will soon be assigned to the case.