Micky Dolenz, lead singer of The Monkees, is suing the FBI to "get any records" the agency may have on the band and its members.
Dolenz, the only surviving member of the band, stated in his lawsuit that he had already completed all applicable administrative procedures after making a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the FBI for the materials.
2011 saw the release of portions of an FBI dossier on the "I'm a Believer" singers, which included references to anti-Vietnam War sentiments and "subliminal messages" shown on a screen during a 1967 Monkees concert, which an informant claimed contained "left-wing advances of a political nature."
During the 1960s and 1970s, under then-Director J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI was rumored to have kept eyes on anti-war musicians such as John Lennon and John Denver, among others. Mark Zaid, Dolenz's attorney, told Rolling Stone that the 77-year-old entertainer and sole surviving member of the band had made a FOIA request to the FBI in June to receive the complete file.
Zaid informed the music journal that the action was filed because the FBI did not respond to the FOIA request within the statutorily mandated 20 working days. Zaid tweeted on Tuesday that he has been a fan of the Monkees since the early 1970s and that it is a "pleasure" to represent Dolenz. "Why was the FBI monitoring the band back in the late 1960s? We will find out!" Zaid said.
In the late 1960s, The Monkees broke into American living rooms through their own network television program. Four young men portrayed struggling members of a fictional band. Two of the actors were already accomplished musicians, while the other two grew excellent during the course of the production.
The show won two Emmys, including the award for Outstanding Comedy. Micky Dolenz, the group's sole surviving member, played guitar but had to learn how to play drums during production.
He provided lead vocals on several of the band's most popular songs, including Last Train to Clarksville, Pleasant Valley Sunday, and I'm a Believer, and he also penned music for the band. Micky Dolenz argues that this is a simplistic and erroneous description, despite the fact that music historians and critics have branded The Monkees the American counterpart to The Beatles for decades.
His time with the Monkees may be his most famous artistic accomplishment, yet it scarcely encompasses the totality of his entertainment career. Micky Dolenz portrayed the lead character in the 1950s television series Circus Boy, about an orphan named Corky who is a waterboy for circus elephants.
After The Monkees disbanded, Micky Dolenz acted and directed musical theater on London's West End. He directed and produced television programs for the BBC and London Weekend Television, acted in American television programs, and continued to make music.
One of his most recent CDs, titled "Demoiselle," is a compilation of solo songs he recorded in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as previously unheard material.
The other album, "Dolenz, Jones, Boyce, and Hart: The Guys Who Wrote 'em and the Guys Who Sang 'em," is a remastered version of previously unreleased material.
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