Music

8 FBI files on musicians you might not have known about

by Daniel Gerichter

Recently, the Insane Clown Posse stepped up their fight against the FBI for profiling Juggalos as “a loosely-organized hybrid gang,” but theirs is just a small drop in the bucket of weird, silly, or, in some cases, potentially grim FBI interactions with popular music. Here are eight more.

 

Woody Guthrie

We begin with the terrorist who wrote “This Land is Your Land”: Woody Guthrie. According to Ed Cray’s Ramblin Man: The Life & Times of Woody Guthrie, the FBI maintained a file on Guthrie starting in 1941. The file mostly contained shady tips handed over to the Bureau by informants who’d served with Guthrie during his Navy Service. Guthrie had written his “Woody Sez” column for People’s World, a communist newspaper in Southern California, from 1939 to 1940, which was the basis for the FBI’s watch.

 

Elvis Presley

Although mostly inconsequential, the FBI files on Elvis Presley are almost endless. Most of them involve attempts to blackmail the King and various go-nowhere accusations made against him. One particular ditty, kept on file since 1956, was written from the Roman Catholic Diocese of La Crosse and described Presley as “a definite danger to the security of the United States,” and questioned why police at one of his shows did nothing to stop “motions and gestures, like those of masturbation or riding a microphone.” The FBI would have many future interactions with Presley, including an alleged meeting where Presley offered to keep tabs on The Beatles(!), Jane Fonda (!!) and the Smothers Brothers (!!!).

 

The Monkees

Yep. The freaking Monkees. The first boy band were as harmless as could be, but that didn’t stop the FBI from keeping tabs on their salacious actions. Their current file (freely available from the FBI’s own vault) makes note of a concert of theirs which used a device that displayed subliminal messages constituting “

Remember that scene in Mister Holland’s Opus where Richard Dreyfuss fawns over the simplicity of “Louie Louie”? Turns out he was stating his love for SHEER OBSCENITY. In the early ’60s the FBI opened a full investigation (including a 117-page file) into the incomprehensible classic (originally by Richard Berry), alleging its lyrics to

An article published by Time Magazine in January 1969 spoke of emerging (and now legendary) Detroit Punk group MC5, describing their music as “the most violent expression of revolutionary rock thus far.” That was enough for J. Edgar Hoover’s office to take notice. According to Nick Redfern’s book Celebrity Secrets: Official Government Files on the Rich and Famous, The FBI had tabs on a string of the group’s arrests for pot possession, as well as occasional flag burnings and, most notably, their involvement with the White Panther Party.

 

NWA

After the mainstream explosion of Straight Outta Compton, the FBI, under pressure from the homophobic bible-thumpers at Focus on the Family, sent a letter (viewable at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in Jerry Heller’s Ruthless: a Memoir) to Ruthless Records, NWA’s label. The letter ostensibly threatened nationwide repercussions for NWA’s “Fuck the Police,” ending off with “Music plays a significant role in society, and I [FBI Assistant Director Milt Ahlericht] wanted you to be aware of the FBI’s position relative to this song and its message. I believe my views reflect the opinion of the entire law enforcement community.”

 

Wu Tang Clan

Between his televised incidents (ask Shawn Colvin) and his stint as a fugitive, Ol Dirty Bastard’s public persona seemed to match the manic boasting in his lyrics—that is until his FBI file was made public. Eight years after his death, the bureau revealed ODB’s possible connection to three murders, a shootout with police, wearing a bullet-proof vest nearly everywhere he went, and allegations of serious crimes committed by other members (never specifically mentioned) of the Wu Tang Clan. Everything from gun-running to large-scale drug deals to connections with the notorious Bloods gang were noted, once again never once mentioning a single member by name.

 

Nine Inch Nails

Probably the most simultaneously fucked-up and hilarious example on this list, this is the story music video footage being mistaken for a snuff film and the year-long FBI investigation that’d follow. In 1989, when shooting the video for “Down In It,” the video’s directors floated their cameras on helium balloons to get a particularly difficult aerial shot of a “dead” Trent Reznor. After a technical mishap, one of the cameras floated away, being carried for over 200 miles, where it was found over a Michigan farmer’s property. Upon reviewing the footage, the farmer believed he’d found proof of a legit murder, prompting local police and then the FBI to get involved. A year later, they’d identify the victim in question as Reznor, leading to the whole situation being explained by his manager, likely closing the case for good.

Check out the video for Hard Copy’s recap of the whole thing. Bonus: late ’80s hair!