Prisoners of Rock and Roll is a bi-weekly podcast about music, the people who make it, and the almighty, ever-lasting power it has over all of us. We've covered everything from Anthrax to Frank Sinatra, the history of the blues to the history of punk, and from Johnny Cash to the Joshua Tree. We also play clips, discuss music news, and sentence a song every week to The Electric Chair for being terrible. Check us out -- you might learn something! Check us out at www.prisonersofrockandroll.com.
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Prisoners of Rock and Roll is a bi-weekly podcast about music, the people who make it, and the almighty, ever-lasting power it has over all of us. We've covered everything from Anthrax to Frank Sinatra, the history of the blues to the history of punk, and from Johnny Cash to the Joshua Tree. We also play clips, discuss music news, and sentence a song every week to The Electric Chair for being terrible. Check us out -- you might learn something! Check us out at www.prisonersofrockandroll.com.
101 -- The FBI's Greatest Hits: Musicians Under Surveillance
Prisoners of Rock and Roll
1 hour 31 minutes
5 months ago
101 -- 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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Prisoners of Rock and Roll
Prisoners of Rock and Roll is a bi-weekly podcast about music, the people who make it, and the almighty, ever-lasting power it has over all of us. We've covered everything from Anthrax to Frank Sinatra, the history of the blues to the history of punk, and from Johnny Cash to the Joshua Tree. We also play clips, discuss music news, and sentence a song every week to The Electric Chair for being terrible. Check us out -- you might learn something! Check us out at www.prisonersofrockandroll.com.
