His image, that of a baby just a few months old swimming naked in a pool chasing a dollar bill, became one of the most recognizable and reproduced album covers of all time. Now, 30 years after the publication of that Nirvana album entitled
Nevermind
, the protagonist of that image, Spencer Elden, has decided to sue the American band for considering that this snapshot constitutes a crime of child pornography. Elden is seeking compensation for, according to the lawsuit, "damages he has suffered and will continue to suffer for life."
The popular photograph was the brainchild of the group's ill-fated leader, Kurt Cobain. The idea was to represent a newborn who, despite being underwater, defenseless, naked, was chasing money, as
the person in charge of shooting, Kirk Weddle,
told
The Guardian
. The reading that was made of that image was that of a critique of capitalism, however, Robert Y. Lewis, Elden's lawyer, offers an unusual interpretation to argue that it crosses the line towards child pornography, ensuring that the inclusion of money in the photograph he makes the baby appear "as a sex worker."
"The defendants promoted Spencer's child pornography in an intentional and commercial way and made use of the shocking nature of his image to promote themselves and their music at Spencer's expense," says the complaint filed in a Californian court and that has been collected. by American media.
Among those pointed out by this complaint appear Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, who together with the legendary and disappeared Kurt Cobain (1967-1994) made up the classic line-up of Nirvana, reports Efe.
Strangely, the complaint also accuses Chad Channing, who was a drummer for Nirvana in its early years and who left the band in 1990, that is, before
Nevermind
was released
.
More information
The baby on the cover of 'Nevermind' is resentful: 30 years later everyone has gotten rich except him
This was the turbulent last days of Kurt Cobain
It is not the first time that Elden, who was four months old when the photograph was taken and has the word
Nevermind
tattooed on his chest, shows mixed feelings about the image, for which his parents received 200 dollars, about 170 euros. In 2016, in an interview with
Time
magazine
, he showed his dissatisfaction for not having received financial compensation in accordance with having starred on the cover of an album that has sold 30 million copies worldwide and that has been reproduced in all kinds of
merchandising
. “Everyone involved has tons and tons of money. I feel like I'm the last bit of
grunge
rock
, "Elden said. "I live at my mother's house and I drive a Honda Civic."
Even the photographer himself, Weddle, with whom he maintained contact over the years because he was friends with his parents, said in the conversation with
The Guardian
that Elden feels "that everyone made money from it and he did not."
The group Nirvana portrayed in 1991 for the promotion of the album 'Nevermind'. Kirk Weddle (Getty)
Despite the position taken by Elden, he has recreated the cover in question on several occasions, such as for the
Rolling Stones
magazine
and on the 25th anniversary of the album's release, in 2016, he himself re-created the cover in question and although he proposed to appear also naked as in the original image, finally and by decision of the photographer, he did so dressed in a swimsuit, loose hair and covered in tattoos. "He thought it would be strange, so I put on my
swimming
shorts
," he told
The New York Post at the time
.