Prisoners of Rock and Roll -- The FBI's Greatest Hits: Musicians Under Surveillance

In this episode of Prisoners of Rock and Roll, we’re looking at the clash between music and The Man diving into times when the FBI investigated musicians. In 1956, J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI created a covert and legally questionable program called COINTELPRO with the goal of disrupting groups that the Feds considered to be subversive – communists, black nationalists, feminists, anti Vietnam protestors, civil rights activists. 

Considering the role that music played in the 60s and 70s, it was only a matter of time before the FBI started investigating rock and roll. Some of the stories are silly. Picture this, it’s 1963 and a bunch of FBI agents are hunched over a record player listening to Louie Louie over and over – forwards and backwards – desperately searching for dirty lyrics that didn’t exist. 

And others are more serious. In 1972, the FBI put John Lenon under surveillance and wiretapped his phone because President Nixon was afraid that his stance on the Vietnam War would influence young voters. The government started proceedings to deport him. 

Over the decades, the FBI has investigated or kept tabs on all sorts of musicians. Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison; folk singers Pete Seeger and Woodie Guthrie; Aretha Franklin, the Monkees, NWA, Charles Mingus, the Insane Clown Posse, and more. There’s a lot of ground to cover in this one, but we’re up for the challenge. Let’s hit it.

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