You've surely come across the famous image of a naked baby swimming underwater with its arms outstretched. But have you ever wondered what the cover of Nevermind Nirvana 's second studio album, ?
The photo is one of the most famous of all time and graced the cover of the album that launched Kurt Cobain , Dave Grohl , and Krist Novoselic to stardom. The controversial image, of a baby with its genitals exposed stretching its arms toward a dollar bill, marked the 90s and sparked much curiosity.
Kurt Cobain was known for his creative mind and seemingly disturbing ideas, which raised many questions regarding the meaning of the Nevermind . Over time, a somewhat conceptual and philosophical interpretation became popular, suggesting that the image represented "society's expectation of spending your entire life chasing money, from the moment you leave the womb until the day you end up in a coffin," as summarized by Far Out .
The explanation, in fact, might be much simpler than that. In an interview available on the Milanote Nevermind cover designer , Robert Fisher , explains that the insertion of the dollar bill on a fishing hook came from an idea without any conceptual motivation behind it.
According to Robert, Kurt's initial idea was for the Nevermind to be of an underwater birth – an idea he had after watching a documentary about natural childbirth. In his research, Fisher concluded that it was impossible to get a good image of something like that, so they moved on to the plan of photographing babies underwater.
In total, there were about 50 images of four or five different babies, photographed in one afternoon by Kirk Weddle , a photographer specializing in underwater images of people. According to Robert Fisher, only the photo used on the cover was "absolutely perfect." "The positioning, the baby's facial expression, the way his arms were outstretched as if he were trying to reach for something – everything was absolutely perfect. That's the one I chose," he explains.
Even with the perfect image, however, it seemed like something was missing for the Nevermind to be complete. “We thought, ‘Okay, it has to be more than just a submerged baby.’ Then Kurt had the idea of adding a fishhook to make it look more menacing. We spent a whole afternoon thinking of all the funny things we could attach to the hook. One idea was a piece of meat, like a big raw steak. Another was a CD or something that symbolized music,” he says.
The group spent hours suggesting various other absurd options, like a dog and even a burrito. “I don’t remember who suggested the dollar bill, but everyone liked the idea and that’s what we used,” he continues. “The thing about the whole process… Kurt didn’t come in with a grand plan or message he wanted to convey. Everything came about organically.”
According to Far Out , Geffen , Nirvana's record label at the time, tried to get the band to choose a different cover photo that didn't show the baby's genitals, but the band was adamant in their decision. Eventually, Kurt Cobain agreed to censor the cover as long as the child's penis was covered by a sticker that read, "If you're offended by this, you must secretly be a pedophile."
Baby featured in 'Nevermind' cover photo sued the band 30 years later.
In 2021, the year that Nevermind would have symbolically turned 30, Spencer Elden , who appears in the cover photo as a baby, filed a lawsuit against Nirvana alleging sexual exploitation .
In the lawsuit, Elden accuses Nirvana of sexual exploitation and production of child pornography, since he was only four months old and could not consent to the photo shoot. He further argues that the cover image portrays him as "a sex worker, struggling for a dollar bill," and cites permanent damage to his life, such as "extreme emotional stress with physical manifestations" and loss of educational and professional opportunities.
The lawsuit was not well-received by Nirvana's representatives, who responded to the accusation by saying that "Elden has spent the last three decades profiting from his celebrity as the self-proclaimed 'Nirvana Baby'." The statement argues that Spencer Elden recreated the cover photograph as an adult "in exchange for money," in addition to having a tattoo with the album's name, appearing on a talk show Nevermind cover to sell on eBay.
In 2016, on the 25th anniversary of Nevermind , Spencer Elden recreated the controversial cover photo and admitted that he asked to pose nude – a request that was denied by the photographer, who claimed it would be "weird". In an interview , Elden said that the album's anniversary "meant something to him" and that it was "cool, but weird" to be part of something iconic that he didn't remember.
At the end of 2022, the lawsuit was dismissed and archived. The most recent update on the case is that Spencer Elden has insisted and appealed against the dismissal , arguing that the harm caused by the photo is ongoing and citing Masha's Law, which allows for compensation into adulthood for victims of child pornography.
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