If you think about New York subway graffiti, names like SEEN, DONDI, LEE, QUIK or ZEPHYR may come to you mind with extravagant style pieces, multicolored fill-ins and backgrounds, ornate designs, highlights and comic-like characters placed next to the piece. Mid 80s books and movies documented the peak of New York subway writing and formed a blueprint of how a prefect graffiti has to look like for decades. This ideal shaped the look of graffiti all around the globe and was the stylistic point of departure for stylewriting outside of NYC (as shown in ZAR ZIP FLY ZORO or The history of graffiti in Greece). At this moment the city however could look back on a twenty year old history of namewriting, starting from simple tagging in the streets, to the first hits on subway trains, outlined pieces, etc.. In CLASSIC HITS Alan Fleisher and Paul Iovino tell the story of “New York’s Pioneering Subway Graffiti Writers”. While the photographers Bill Ray, Jack Stewart, Alan Fleisher and Robert Browning show never before published treasures from their 1970s trainspotting archives, iconic writers of these times are featured in own chapters where they share their thoughts and stories: ALE ONE, ALL JIVE 161, BLADE, CHECKER170, CLYDE, DEATH, FDT56, IZ THE WIZ, LAVA 1&2, PNUT2 and VAMM. Even though most of the pieces do not often have more than three or four colors, these rare photographs let us witness an era where letters starting from tags became simple bubble pieces, having 3D blocks, shadows, backgrounds and later would become masterpieces, executed as End-2-End, Top-2-Bottom or even Wholecar. This book is not only a definite must-have if you are into the history of stylewriting, but also if you are interested in the origins of a style which celebrated a comeback in the last years. From Taki 183 from Blade to Iz the Wiz. Their names have reached stardom far beyond the graffiti culture and without them, no Seen, Banksy or REVOKE. In Classic Hits the pioneers tells all how they started and where graffiti took them. We follow them to a different New York and get a glimpse into their driving force. Together, the essays an invaluable picture of what graffiti was during the early, playful years. Graffiti is the greatest and most influential art movement of our time, created by youth, for youth. In Classic Hits, the key people and pioneers tells the story of their own story in unique images and text. Contains essays and quotes from: Ale One, All Jive 161, Blade, Cay 161, Checker 170, Clyde, Death, FDT 56, Flint 707, Iz The Wiz, Jester 1, Joe 182, Lava, LSD OM, Mico, Pnut 2, Roger 1, Ski 168, Snake 1, Taki 183 and Vamm. Alan Fleisher began to paint on subway trains in the Bronx in the summer of 1972 and painted many of 1970’s most famous graffiti artists. His unique knowledge of graffiti’s early years and long friendship with those he painted with gives a rare inside perspective. Paul Iovino grew up in the area around Morris Park in the Bronx and painted graffiti here in the late 1980s. Paul Iovino joined Alan Fleisher to present denmest obokade about 1970s graffiti ever published. The name Phase 2 first appeared on New York’s subway trains and walls 1971st His well-executed signature had style and his paintings were admired by other graffiti artists. Phase 2 is considered to be the first graffiti “StyleWriter” and his contribution to the graffiti culture is evident even today.