From The Research Vault: The Monkees’ FBI File via FBI Vault
This is the actual file the FBI kept on The Monkees, as they were worried about subversive ideas the show generated. Silly to see they spelled the name wrong on the cover – makes me wonder about the thoroughness of the agency back in the day. It does seem, though, that the agents in charge of this investigation understood more than some viewers as they noted the show’s “denouncing the U.S. policy in the war in Vietnam”. They describe the ‘young men’ on the show as dressing as ‘beatnik types’ (perhaps the word hippie had not permeated the agency yet) and report that during concerts “subliminal messages” appeared on a ‘device’ known as a screen behind the performers.
Check it out!
Read more of The Monkees’ FBI File via FBI Vault
Why The Monkees Matter: Teenagers, Television and American Pop Culture
