District Court in Central California, dismissed the case after Elden missed his deadline to file an opposition to the defendants’ motion to dismiss. Olguin, who was presiding over the case at the U.S. “Nevermind,” which celebrated its thirtieth anniversary last year, was released in 1991. Two weeks ago, the’ attorneys for Grohl, Novoselic, Weddle, Love, Cobain, Nirvana, L.L.C., MCA Records, UMG Recordings, Inc., Universal Music Group, Inc., The David Geffen Company and Geffen Records jointly sought a dismissal of Elden’s lawsuit, stating Elden had “spent three decades profiting from his celebrity as the self-anointed ‘Nirvana Baby’” and the suit was time-barred. Elden’s lawsuit claimed the image on the cover was taken and used without his consent and the nudity amounts to an image of child abuse.Īs well as Grohl, Novoselic and Love, defendants to Elden’s lawsuit include Cobain, who died in 1994 music managers Guy Oseary and Heather Parry, who manage Cobain’s estate photographer Kirk Weddle art director Robert Fisher Nirvana’s original drummer Chad Channing (who was replaced by Grohl long before “Nevermind” was conceived of and released) and a variety of record companies (including some that are now defunct) that handled the album in some capacity since its release in 1991. Last year, Spencer Elden - the baby pictured naked on the front of the album - sued a number of individuals and companies associated with the record including Nirvana band members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic as well as Kurt Cobain’s widow Courtney Love, who is the executor of Cobain’s estate.
But the latest development means its contemporary relevance has been revived with a new sense of irony.A judge has dismissed the lawsuit filed against the surviving members of Nirvana over the cover image of their iconic album “ Nevermind.” Nevermind’s artwork has long been considered iconic in terms of 20th and 21st-century popular imagery. The significance of the artwork is likely to be scrutinised further given that the baby in the image, now grown up, has decided to sue Nirvana and Kurt Cobain’s estate on grounds of alleged child exploitation and pornography. And the combination of title, cover image and the commercial context implies a self-conscious critique of the contradictions between artistic authenticity and global success. It’s the addition of the apathetic but sardonic title itself – Nevermind – that suggests some kind of awareness of the identity-based issues the band faced. The image of a baby swimming towards a dollar bill seems a blatant form of self-mockery while the band knowingly operate in the highly commercial context of the mainstream US music industry. This is an important point of contradiction. And musically speaking, the record incorporates several industry-standard production techniques and mainstream song-writing conventions that stand in stark contrast to the band’s DIY punk roots. The logo is printed for all to see on the back of the outer sleeve or CD booklet. Which had also put out Aerosmith, Whitesnake and Guns n’ Roses. Nevermind came out on a major label, David Geffen. The trouble with this interpretation is that it overlooks Nirvana’s participation in the same system that the cover seems to deride. Is the child tempted by materialistic fulfilment like a fish is baited by sustenance? The way the infant and dollar bill motifs replace the fish and bait suggests there’s a deeper meaning at play. One popular interpretation is that it’s a critique of corporate capitalist society and the principles of consumerism. This enigmatic and playful reworking of a fishing scene is clearly open to multiple readings. In terms of the ensemble, it was Fisher’s idea to doctor the image to include a type of bait – the famous dollar bill hooked to the fishing line. But what this implies is a degree of wit through an awareness of the record’s status as a marketable and palatable product. There is an absurdist and shock-value element to Nirvana’s baby imagery, exposing the gap between realistic and socially sanctioned, or commercially acceptable, representations of nakedness. Although baby imagery has been used before on the covers of major rock releases – Van Halen’s 1984 shows an angel child smoking a cigarette – the context is not the same.
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