In recent music news, a major lawsuit has been filed against some very unlikely subjects. After a successful but tragically short-lived career, Nirvana is making news headlines after decades of inactivity. The band’s most critically acclaimed album, Nevermind, is presently the subject of this new lawsuit. However, the lawsuit isn’t concerned with the music on the record. Instead, the album cover is the item in question.
Nirvana’s Nevermind is arguably one of the most iconic albums of all time. Stripping this claim of all opinion, Nevermind has indeed become something of a grunge bible. The record placed Nirvana in rock history books with an amazing collection of groundbreaking songs. However, this recent lawsuit involves the subject of the album cover.
You might not recognize Spencer Elden by name, but you would absolutely recognize him on the cover of Nevermind. Elden was actually the baby in the cover photo. This photo depicts a 4 month old Elden in a pool, completely nude, with a superimposed dollar bill being waved in front of him. 30 years later, Spencer Elden has filed a formal lawsuit against the remaining members of Nirvana. Furthermore, the lawsuit includes the people behind the production of the album photo and the labels that sold the album.
With a lawsuit filed, What are Spencer Elden’s claims?
According to Variety, the suit claims the “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.”
It is important to understand the terminology in this claim. Legally speaking, nude photos of babies aren’t necessarily pornographic. However, the addition of the superimposed dollar bill suggests that the baby is being depicted as a “sex worker.” Even though the addition of the dollar is meant to represent commentary on the state of capitalism, Elden’s lawyers suggest that this financial aspect adds an unnecessary sexual nature to the photo.
Financially speaking, this lawsuit holds some legitimate weight. According to documents provided by a California district court, Elden and his lawyers are demanding $150,000 from the remaining members of Nirvana, Courtney Love (Kurt Cobain’s estate executor), the photographer and art director behind the album cover, as well as every record label that has ever sold copies of Nevermind.
The requested compensation amounts to over 1 million dollars. After only receiving a flat rate of $200 for the photo shoot, Elden and his family are planning to cash in on the success of the album.
Conflicting Attitudes May Cause The Court To Consider Outside Information
While this lawsuit is official, does Spencer Elden have a legitimate case? In past interviews, Elden spoke positively about his inclusion in the album cover. Furthermore, he recreated the image on four separate occasions to celebrate the anniversary of Nevermind’s release. This could work against him in court, but he is holding firm in his belief that he was taken advantage of.
Mainly citing finances as his main concern, Elden believes that he should receive further compensation due to the album’s overwhelming success. In addition, Elden claims that his family never took part in signing a release for the image’s use. Instead, his family only signed off on the actual photo shoot.
While Elden is demanding financial compensation, he still admits that the Nevermind photo idea was “genius.” He even has the album title tattooed on his chest. With this information widely known, it will be up to the court to decide if this lawsuit holds any legitimate weight.
On one hand, Spencer Elden doesn’t seem to mind being part of the album cover. It almost seems like his personal concerns have nothing to do with the nudity or subject matter of the photo. Instead, he is mainly concerned with the fact that he didn’t make nearly as much money as he should have from his inclusion. However, his attorneys are phrasing this lawsuit in a way that places the subject’s nudity in the spotlight.
Will the court interpret this as an issue of child pornography or lack of compensation? It seems as though the prosecution is saying one thing and Spencer Elden is saying something entirely different. Regardless, this will be an interesting court case to keep tabs on.
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