In 1981 Minor Threat’s self titled EP and song became something of a punk rock anthem. Close to 25 years later, I found it just a little amusing and perhaps a bit ironic too that the three of us standing in this room at the moment are probably some of the only people that have stopped by here for awhile that actually knew where some of those words scrawled on the walls were from, and maybe ever so slightly the mindset behind it. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, take a hint from the title of this post, and the fact that Revs had his own punk rock band at one point.
With that bit of setup mystery – here are the facts: Between 1994 and 1999, Revs painted over 200 ‘journal pages’ in NYC subway tunnels. He created one in nearly every NYC subway tunnel, until he was caught (and many falsely suspected ratted out) right towards the end. His first page was in an emergency exit located along the R line, in Bay Ridge
This first page existed up until a few years ago, and was one of the first ones destroyed when the MTA began throwing away money by repainting all emergency exits.
The entire exit was painted – with graffiti on the walls, ceilings, etc. Some walls were covered in the huge slaps that Revs & Cost became best known for back in the late 1980s.
It’s a shame that this room was basically destroyed. Today it’s covered in boring MTA gray paint.
Most Revs pages remain in their original form, those a few have been destroyed over the years – most by hater-writers, and at least one by the collapse of the world trade center on 9/11.
Out of step, with the wORLD !