Who were the first music act to receive a ‘formal letter of concern’ from the FBI?
In 1966, Phil Ochs joked, “I’m a folk singer for the FBI“. While that might have been a quip, the political musician grew so paranoid that he was being spied on that it ultimately led to his death by suicide a decade after he made the remark.
It turns out that his concerns were more than justified. In 2024, the FBI released a six-page redacted dossier on Ochs, a fraction of the nearly 500 documents that they have on him.
He’s not the only victim, either. When John Lennon sat on Dick Cavett’s couch in 1972, he made a frank revelation that left millions awestruck when he claimed that the FBI were spying on him. Silence filled homes across the nation. Most of the masses watching on were struck dumb by the thought that Lennon had finally lost it, and they were watching the spiralling downfall of a deranged man.
The dossier that has since been revealed is proof of the working-class hero’s sanity. Jon Wiener is the person to thank for the documentation eventually coming to light after he waged a 25-year legal battle to win the release of the files. “A little historical background here, the ’72 election was going to be the first in which 18-year-olds had the right to vote,” Wiener explained to NPR in 2000 regarding Richard Nixon’s orchestrated attack.
“Before that,” he added, ”You had to be 21. Everybody knew that young people were the strongest anti-war constituency, so the question was, for Lennon, how could he use his power as a celebrity to get young people into the political process?” That was a question that the FBI were keen to know the answer to themselves.
As Weiner continued, “And also, this is a time when kids are very alienated from, you know, mainstream politics. So, to get Lennon out of the country, the strategic countermeasure is to deport Lennon so he won’t be able to take this tour that would register young voters. At the same time, they’re worried that, you know, young voters will vote against Nixon for kicking out, you know, the clever Beatle.” Thus, they quietly hatched a plan to spy on Lennon and throw him out with some drummed-up cause. Ultimately, Lennon had the financial backing to legally fight his own corner, and the rest is history.
However, his tale is indicative of the soft pressure and posturing that the FBI have employed over the years in a bid to quell music’s potential for political subversion. Usually, they do this firmly from the shadows. But in the 1980s, they saw fit to issue one group with a formal letter of concern.
So, who were the first band to receive a formal letter from the FBI?
Back in the summer of 1989, Priory Records received an FBI missive about NWA. The rap collective’s single ‘Fuck Tha Police’ had apparently caused quite a stir at the bureau. The previous year, police aggression against black citizens had been a subject of hot debate in the media. This prompted the group to write provocative lyrics like “takin’ out a police will make my day“, while accusing the police of suspecting that every black person was “selling narcotics“.
For the first recorded time in history, this prompted Milt Ahlerich, the assistant director for the FBI’s Office of Public Affairs, to write directly to a music label, condemning the track that they had released. In a bid to put pressure on the independent Priory Records, Ahlerich wrote that the song “encourages violence against and disrespect for the law enforcement officer.“
He added, “Advocating violence and assault is wrong, and we in the law enforcement community take exception to such action.“ While police on civilian homicides had been attracting attention, the FBI man also pointed out that “78 law enforcement officers were feloniously slain in the line of duty in 1988, four more than in 1987.“
Without naming ‘Fuck Tha Police’ in his letter, he made it clear which track he was referring to, adding, “Law enforcement officers dedicate their lives to the protection of our citizens and recordings such as the one from NWA are both discouraging and degrading to these brave, dedicated officers.“
Not long after the label received this letter, it was released to the public at a Music in Action event, where it was quickly condemned as intimidation by the speakers on display. Barry Lynn of the American Civil Liberties Union proudly strode forth and proclaimed that the letter was clearly “designed to get Priority to change its practices, policies and distribution for this record, and that’s the kind of censorship by intimidation that the First Amendment doesn’t permit.“
While the FBI later denied that this was its intent, the public uproar ensured that these letters soon ceased. It is unclear whether any further Letters of Official Concern have been sent since, the FBI’s various dossiers on musicians that have been released in recent years evidently prove how firmly they have their finger pressed on the pulse of pop culture.
