Rick Elden, a friend and sometime assistant of photographer Kirk Weddle (one of the named defendants), told NPR that Weddle "calls us up and was like, 'Hey Rick, wanna make 200 bucks and throw your kid in the drink?,' I was like, 'What's up?' And he's like, 'Well, I'm shooting kids all this week, why don't you meet me at the Rose Bowl, throw your kid in the drink?' And we just had a big party at the pool, and no one had any idea what was going on!"
The filing also claims no release was signed granting permission for the image's use, though Elden's father, Rick Elden, has said the family received $200 at the time of the shoot. He is a huge music connoisseur: When he heard I was the Nirvana baby, he thought that was really cool." I’m 23 now and an artist and this story gave me an opportunity to work with Shepard Fairey for five years, which was an awesome experience. "It’s always been a positive thing and opened doors for me. And I am also glad it wasn’t for something like a Backstreet Boys album. In that Guardian interview, Elder had a more positive take on the experience: "I am glad they chose me.
BABY ON NIRVANA NEVERMIND COVER NOW GROWN UP TRIAL
The suit says, in part, "The permanent harm has proximately suffered includes but is not limited to extreme and permanent emotional distress with physical manifestations, interference with his normal development and educational progress, lifelong loss of income earning capacity, loss of past and future wages, past and future expenses for medical and psychological treatment, loss of enjoyment of life, and other losses to be described and proven at trial of this matter." It’s cool but weird to be part of something so important that I don’t even remember." It’s strange that I did this for five minutes when I was 4 months old and it became this really iconic image. In a New York Post piece coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the album, he is quoted as saying, "I said to the photographer, ‘Let’s do it naked.’ But he thought that would be weird, so I wore my swim shorts. Why not? I think it would be fun."Įlden has repeatedly re-created the image over the years (albeit in swim trunks), posing for shoots commemorating the album's various anniversaries. Sooner or later, I want to create a print of a real-deal re-enactment shot, completely naked.
In a 2015 interview with the Guardian, Elden said, "I might have one of the most famous penises in the music industry, but no one would ever know that to look at me.
The suit also names former Nirvana drummer Chad Channing, who was replaced by Grohl before the album was recorded or the cover was shot. Nude but non-sexualized images of children are not necessarily considered child pornography under the law: The Department of Justice defines child pornography as "any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a minor." A common interpretation of the cover image concerns the band's critique of capitalism.ĭefendants include surviving members of the band Dave Grohl (now of Foo Fighters) and Krist Novoselic, as well as Courtney Love (Kurt Cobain's widow and executor of his estate) and a number of record companies connected to the album, some of which are now defunct. "Defendants used child pornography depicting Spencer as an essential element of a record promotion scheme commonly utilized in the music industry to get attention, wherein album covers posed children in a sexually provocative manner to gain notoriety, drive sales, and garner media attention, and critical reviews." "Defendants intentionally commercially marketed Spencer's child pornography and leveraged the shocking nature of his image to promote themselves and their music at his expense," the lawsuit reads, in part. The lawsuit further claims that by altering the image to include the dollar bill on a fish hook, they made him look "like a sex worker." Attorney Robert Lewis claims in the suit that by using the photo of then-baby Elden with his genitalia exposed, the defendants sexualized the child. District Court's central district of California seeking at least $150,000 in damages from each of about 10 defendants. Spencer Elden, 30, filed suit in the U.S. The naked baby chasing the dollar-bill bait on the cover of Nirvana's iconic "Nevermind" album wants more than a buck from the band, and he's suing them on the grounds of child pornography to get it. Grohl and Novoselic are among those named in a new lawsuit. In 1991, Nirvana was made up of Krist Novoselic, left, Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl.