Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
The kid on the cover of Nirvana’s “Nevermind” album sues the band
Nirvana and several of the band’s collaborators are being sued by Spencer Elden, who appears on the cover of the classic “Nevermind” album.
Elden, now 30, who appears on the cover as a four-month-old, is accusing Nirvana, photographer Kirk Weddle and the record company DGC Records of child sexual exploitation. Elden is seeking $150 000 in damages from each of the defendants and is demanding a trial by jury. The lawsuit includes surviving band members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, the managers of Kurt Cobain’s estate as well as Cobain’s former wife Courtney Love.
According to Elden, the photo was taken without his or his legal guardians’ written consent; in her lawsuit, Elden alleges that the cover photo, which depicts his genitals, meets the criteria for child pornography. In addition, Elden says he suffered “lifelong damage” from the image, which he continues to struggle with on a daily basis.
Kurt Cobain and DGC Records are reported to have argued about the hiding of the baby’s genitals on the cover art in the weeks leading up to the album’s release. According to Elden, the band itself had promised to ‘censor’ the image by adding a sticker to the album cover, but the promise was not kept.
“The images exposed Spencer’s intimate body part and lasciviously displayed Spencer’s genitals from the time he was an infant to the present day,” says in the legal papers filed in California
Elden has previously publicly stated that he was paid $200 for the shoot; the New York Post recreated the iconic cover art as Elden posed in a swimming pool for the album’s 25th anniversary in 2016.
“Quite a few people in the world have seen my penis,” Elden told NPR magazine in 2008. “It’s pretty cool. I’m just a normal, life-loving skid and I do everything I can to enjoy every moment on earth.”
Released in 1991, “Nevermind” is considered the greatest rock album of its time; the album, which triggered the grunge wave of the ’90s, has sold a modest 10 times the number required to go platinum.