24 of this year, which marked the 30th anniversary of Nevermind, Elden publicly asked Universal Music not to use the original cover for the reissue.
The parties also argued that the photo does not fall under the umbrella of child pornography because it is not “coupled with other circumstances that make the visual depiction lascivious or sexually provocative.” Instead the motion argues that the photograph “evokes themes of greed, innocence, and the motif of the cherub in Western art.On Sept. “The baby in the photograph is now a thirty-year-old man, the plaintiff, Spencer Elden. Elden has spent three decades profiting from his celebrity as the self-anointed ‘Nirvana Baby.’ He has re-enacted the photograph in exchange for a fee, many times he has the album title ‘Nevermind’ tattooed across his chest he has appeared on a talk show wearing a self-parodying, nude-colored onesie he has autographed copies of the album cover for sale on eBay and he has used the connection to try to pick up women.” The defendants - UMG Recordings, Inc., Nirvana L.L.C., Kurt Cobain, Courtney Love (as executor of the Estate of Kurt Cobain), Nirvana members Krist Novoselic, Dave Grohl, and the album’s photographer, Kirk Weddle - filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit on December 22 in a California court. Still, he has, in the past, embraced his role in rock history, getting “Nevermind” tattoed across his chest and participating in a recreation of the album cover photo shoot in 2016. In 2007, Elden claimed that his parents, Renata and Rick Elden, were paid just $200 for the photo.
But the amendment also presented additional allegations and context intended to prove that the band always intended the image to be sexual in nature. An amendment to the suit filed in November dropped former Nirvana drummer Chad Channing (who left Nirvana in 1990 over a year before Nevermind‘s release), Warner Music, and Heather Parry and Guy Oseary (former managers of Cobain’s estate) as defendants.
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