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When it comes to the cover of one of the most important records of all time, he did not request one. Spencer Elden is the subject of a tattoo on his chest that readsNevermind. ” If you consider it offensive, you should consider yourself a closet paedophile,” the sticker reads. It was only after Cobain agreed to cover his genitalia that he relented. When David Geffen tried to get Nirvana to agree on an alternative cover, he decided to avoid depicting Elden’s penis. Spencer Elden doesn’t have a whole lot of feelings about his cover appearance in this month’s issue of Vanity Fair. The cover depicts a naked baby floating on a fishing line, with a dollar bill dangling from his neck. In 1991, Nirvana released its album Nevermind, which is widely regarded as one of the most influential pieces of art of all time. It’s a reminder of the power of a simple image to make a lasting impression. The result is an iconic album cover that has been imitated and parodied countless times.
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The final image was then airbrushed to remove any wrinkles from Elden’s skin. It took a total of six takes to get the perfect shot. His mother was on hand to make sure he was comfortable and safe. To get the shot, Elden was suspended in the air above the water tank, with his head just inches from the surface of the water. The baby was three-month-old Spencer Elden, who was the son of one of the photographers friends. So how did they make the Nevermind album cover? The image was shot on location at a water tank in Los Angeles. The image was created by photographer Kirk Weddle and has been named one of the most influential images of the 20th century. It features a naked baby swimming towards a dollar bill on a fishhook. The album, a cornerstone of the grunge era, eventually sold over 30 million copies.Nirvana’s Nevermind album cover is one of the most iconic in history. Geffen Records originally shipped 46,521 copies of “Nevermind” to retailers in hopes of eventually selling 200,000 copies. The lawsuit contends that the cover image chosen by Cobain suggests a “sex worker grabbing for a dollar bill.”Įlden alleged that the 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.”Īs a result, Elden “has suffered and will continue to suffer lifelong damages,” according to his complaint. “To ensure the album cover would trigger a visceral sexual response from the viewer, (photographer Kirk) Weddle activated Spencer’s ‘gag reflex’ before throwing him underwater in poses highlighting and emphasizing Spencer’s exposed genitals,” Elden’s suit alleged. Fired UPS driver awarded $5.45 million in whistleblower retaliation suit
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