A dominant narrative around Nirvana in recent days has been the cover art for Nevermind, which famously features a naked baby boy underwater. Spencer Elden, the then-baby who appeared on the cover, is now suing the band and has expressed a desire for the band to use a different image for subsequent reissues of the album. The band has stayed mostly quiet on the issue, but now Dave Grohl has finally spoken about it.
In a conversation with The Sunday Times (as NME notes), Grohl indicated the band is open to changing the album art and even said he has some ideas for how Nevermind could look going forward, saying, “I have many ideas of how we should alter that cover but we’ll see what happens. We’ll let you know. I’m sure we’ll come up with something good.”
In terms of litigation, Grohl also said, “I think that there’s much more to look forward to and much more to life than getting bogged down in those kinds of things. And, fortunately, I don’t have to do the paperwork.”
During a recent conversation with Chris Cuomo, Maggie Mabie, a lawyer representing Elden, attested, “The focal point of the image is the minor’s genitalia. And here in that image along with all of the other factors as we pled in our complaint, it is a very over-sexualized image, and does constitute child pornography. More importantly, it was child exploitation in the way that they created it, and the way that they continue to distribute the image today.”