Its cover, featuring the naked four-month-old Elden in a swimming pool, being lured by a dollar bill on a fishing line, ranks among the most iconic album covers of all time.
The LP rocketed Nirvana to stardom and became the definitive release of the grunge revolution. 24, 1991, Nevermind would become one of the most legendary albums in rock history. “Neither Spencer nor his legal guardians ever signed a release authorizing the use of any images of Spencer or of his likeness, and certainly not of commercial child pornography depicting him,” the documents further state.Įlden claims that the image has caused him to “suffer lifelong damages.'
Interestingly, the suit cites album covers for Scorpion’s Virgin Killer, Blind Faith’s Blind Faith, and Van Halen’s Balance as other examples of previous “controversial campaigns used to promote music with sexually explicit material depicting a child or outright child pornography.” The suit further alleges that Cobain “agreed to redact Spencer’s image by releasing the album with a sticker strategically placed over Spencer’s genitals with the text: ‘If you’re offended by this, you must be a closet pedophile.’” Such a sticker was “never incorporated” into the album’s cover.
