My homeland, Italy, is affected with myriads of controversial and divisive dedications, such as the names of artworks and streets, that have been often intitled to dictators, communists, fascists, and other discussable personalities. However, the long list of those dedications doesn’t include national monuments, visited by millions of persons per year. Differently, in the US an analogue list would be much shorter, even if it would surely include a national monument, very popular all over the world. Naturally, I am about to offer a brief summary of information, more precisely the information necessary for you to understand my observations. The interested monument is Mount Rushmore National Memorial, recognized in 1966, valorized in 1991, and located in Black Hills, South Dakota. It is a big sculpture 18 m high, carved into granite rock from 1927 to 1941 by an equipe of 400 workers directed by the architect Gutzon Borglum, and, after his death, by his son. The chief carver was an Italian immigrant, Mr. Luigi Del Bianco from Friuli. The sculpture represents the faces of 4 US Presidents, Washington (completed in 1930), Jefferson (completed in 1936), Lincoln (completed in 1937), and Roosevelt (completed in 1939). I omit other details, easily findable on the web. At this point, I have to offer a short description of the reasons why the monument is highly controversial. First, the location is a historic property of Lakota Sioux, occupied during late 18th century by the US government because of the discovery of gold mines, in violation of a treaty; in 1980, the Supreme Court ruled a compensation of 100 million $ in favor of the descendants of those native Americans, who refused the money and still go on in revendicating the cited land. Second, the architect Gutzon Borglum was rumored of being a member of the Ku Klux Klan. The accusation has not been confirmed, even though, for sure, Borglum collaborated with the KKK, and received a funding for the completion of the work on Mount Rushmore. Now, I can talk about recent developments of the controversy.
As you can understand, Mount Rushmore National Memorial has a bad reputation, for being bound to racism, and to white supremacism. Some celebrities, among whom a number of US Presidents, have asked to become the subject for a fifth sculpture, perhaps to desacralize the artwork. The English band the Deep Purple, according to many experts the godfathers of hard rock and metal, have released in June 1970 an album titled “Deep Purple in Rock”, whose cover is a picture of Mount Rushmore. Surprisingly, the album has been a big success in Europe, where is a milestone of rock, and a big unsuccess in the US. Evidently, the valorization of Mount Rushmore has had a notable role in causing that unsuccess. Even today, there are a lot of debates, and many Americans would like the delisting of Mount Rushmore as a national monument. What is my opinion? Previously, you need to know that, in Italy, some radical thinkers are proposing the destruction of all the buildings constructed during the years of fascism, especially the public works commissioned by the fascist governments. Pity that almost all of those buildings are yet in use, and some of them are iconic, and notably appreciated all-over the world. Perhaps, my most faithful readers know what I think of celebrities, personalities, politicians, and every kind of people blessed by esoterism. With a few and clear words, each person has an intangible dignity, and from the respect of human beings derives that any definitive moral condemnation, or sacralization, of behaviors is surely invalid. What really matters is the factual result of human efforts. A banal example. A homosexual singer releases a beautiful song about his sexual preferences. Well, honestly, I don’t agree the cited preferences, and I don’t feel any duty to express a solidarity of the politic correct kind. The only aspect important to me is answering to the following question: can I appreciate the song on a mere musical terrain? Controversial or not, Mount Rushmore National Memorial remembers a series of crucial elements of American history, and offers a faithful representation of the greatness, and of the contradictions of American culture. Similarly, no one can deny the immortal glory of the Ancient Rome, despite of slavery, something far worse than racism and white supremacism.
In conclusion, moral condemnations made by simple humans are always wrong, and inevitably destined to cause envy and hate, the sources of all the evils in the world. Coming to music, I have recorded a musical monument to rock dances, controversial or not. The unifying factor is a rhythm at 130 BPM.
File name is “monument to rock dances, by Max Look DJ (end of March 2026)”, about 1 hour and 20’ of danceable rock tracks at 130 BPM, chosen among classics and not.
The playlist at 130 BPM:
Young Guv - couldn't leave u if I tried
Blue Oyster Cult - born to be wild
Bon Jovi - have a nice day
Shakira - don't bother
Silence - down down
Bo Street Runners - Bo Street runner
Mickey Finn - garden in my mind
John Miles - slow down
Dave Berry - little things
13th Floor Elevators - reverberation
X-Press 2 - lazy
Die Moulinettes - liebe auf dem land
Colosseum - those about to die
John Lee Hooker - this is hip
Shaun Cassidy - morning girl
Lou Christie - I'm gonna make you mine
Rainbow - all night long rock
Nils Lofgren - secrets in the street
Sir Douglas Quintet - Mendocino
Darkness - grief hammer
America - you can do magic
Jefferson Airplane - somebody to love
Hawkwind - silver machine
