It’s like that dream where you go to school without your clothes on.”Īfter high school, Elden interned for the artist Shepard Fairey.
“You have these people who think you’re cool because you’re the Nirvana baby. “You’ll hook up with a hot chick, and then they figure out you’re not making any money from it and they’ll dump you,” he went on. Everyone thinks you’re making money from it.” When asked if the cover affected his relationships, he said, “Totally. In that same interview, Elden discussed the negative aspects of the notoriety, too. Why am I still on their cover if I’m not that big of a deal?” “I was getting referred to their managers and their lawyers.
“I was asking if they wanted to put a piece of art in the fucking thing,” he said. In a 2016 interview with GQ Australia, Elden said his stance on the photograph changed after he reached out to Nirvana to see if the band would participate in an art show he was putting on. However, his enthusiasm appears to have waned in recent years. He has the word “nevermind” tattooed on his chest.
As a young man, he re-created the pool scene on numerous occasions, including for the album’s 10th, 15th, and 25th anniversaries. His lawyer did not immediately respond to Artnet News’s request for comment, nor did representatives for the band.Įlden, now 30 and an artist himself, has had a complicated relationship with the Nirvana cover, among the most recognizable in all of popular music. The defendant is seeking damages, attorney fees, and a jury trial. Courtesy of Geffen Records.Īmong those named in the suit are two surviving former members of Nirvana, drummer Dave Grohl and bassist Krist Novoselic the overseers of deceased frontman Kurt Cobain’s estate, including Courtney Love the photographer who took the image, Kirk Weddle as well as several record companies associated with the album. The album cover, shot by Kirk Weddle, features Spencer Elden. “A brief examination of the photograph, or Elden’s own conduct (not to mention the photograph’s presence in the homes of millions of Americans who, on Elden’s theory, are guilty of felony possession of child pornography) makes that clear.Nirvana’s 1991 album, Nevermind. “Elden’s claim that the photograph on the Nevermind album cover is ‘child pornography’ is, on its face, not serious,” the Nirvana estate said in a statement. If they miss that new deadline, he won’t have another opportunity to refile, but if they do, the Nirvana estate has until Jan. 30 to file an opposition to the Nirvana estate’s request to dismiss the case, and they missed that deadline. Olguin on Monday “with leave to amend.” Elden’s legal team had until Dec. The lawsuit was dismissed by Judge Fernando M. However, things aren’t necessarily over just yet. Now, as Spin reports, a judge has dismissed the lawsuit. Back in August, Spencer Elden - the man best known as “the Nirvana Baby” thanks to the iconic image of him as an infant that appears on the cover of the band’s Nevermind album - filed a lawsuit against the band, claiming the album artwork is “child pornography” and asserting that his legal guardians never consented to his naked genitalia appearing on the cover.