Britt Jones
The iconic baby photo on Nirvana's album cover for Nevermind is something we’ve all seen, but did you know there’s been a legal battle over it? Or that the baby’s parents were paid a startling amount for him to be photographed?
There’s nothing better than reading about lore to your favourite band, but when it comes to Nirvana and their Nevermind album, it’s got many twists and turns.
The 1991 classic featured songs like 'Smells Like Teen Spirit', 'Come As You Are', 'In Bloom' and 'Lithium', and marked the flame that lit the match to the band’s overwhelming legacy.
However, even though the band disbanded after the death of frontman Kurt Cobain just three years later, a court case has brought Nirvana back into the spotlight.
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It all began in 1991 when a baby called Spencer Elden became the face of one of the most iconic albums in rock music history.
It’s an achievement very few in the world can boast about, but the 34-year-old made headlines when he claimed that his being captured naked while swimming towards a dollar bill on a fishhook in a pool was essentially child pornography.
It’s not the first time his cover has been called out, as at the time of its release, record label Geffen was concerned about the infant's penis being visible in the photo.
This led to Cobain covering it with a sticker which read: "If you're offended by this, you must be a closet pedophile."
That sticker didn’t stop Elden from suing the band's estate, and filing a complaint against surviving band members Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Cobain's widow Courtney Love alongside photographer Kirk Weddle in 2021.
The lawsuit claimed the photo had been taken without Elden's consent, and he demanded to be paid £120,000 in damages.
He also claimed the dollar bill on the cover alluded to him as being a 'sex worker'.
The lawsuit was dismissed, and Elden refiled multiple times, before an appeals court overturned a ruling which said he had waited too long to make this an issue.
You might be wondering why Elden was even photographed for the album cover, and that’s all down to trying to save a few pennies.
The band wanted to cut costs after Geffen’s art director, Robert Fisher, found out that a stock photo of a baby in water would cost them around £5,945.
Cobain had been inspired by water births at the time and wanted something similar to the process for the cover.
But after finding out the price, Fisher reached out to Weddle, who asked his friends (Elden's parents) if they would be happy to use their child instead.
They said yes, and were paid a measly £158 for the image.
Considering Nevermind has sold 30 million copies worldwide, I bet they were flabbergasted that they didn’t consider asking for royalties.
While it's not known how they felt about the cover art, what is known is that before the legal battle, Elden spoke positively about his appearance on the cover.
He even recreated the image numerous times over the years and tattooed the album’s name on his chest.
As for how the band feels about his change of heart and legal action, a lawyer for Nirvana said, per the BBC: "We are delighted the court has ended this meritless case and freed our creative clients of the stigma of false allegations."