The 'Nevermind' cover by Nirvana is the photograph of Spencer Elden, grasping for a dollar bill dangled with a fishing hook.
Spencer Elden, 30, is suing the band for alleging sexual exploitation and child pornography.
Spencer claimed his parents never signed any release authorising letter to use his image on the 'Nevermind' album cover.
He was 4 months old when he was photographed by a family friend drifting naked in a pool.
According to the legal papers filed in California, "the images exposed Spencer's intimate body part and lasciviously displayed Spencer's genitals from the time he was an infant to the present day."
The 'dollar bill' makes the baby seems like a sex worker, Robert Y. Lewis, Spencer's lawyer.
Nirvana had allegedly promised to cover Spencer's genitals with a sticker, but the agreement was not upheld.
Kurt Cobain once suggested putting a sticker over the baby's genital, saying, "if you're offended by this, you must be a closet paedophile."
Spencer also alleges that his "true identity and legal name are forever tied to the commercial sexual exploitation he experienced as a minor that has been distributed and sold worldwide from the time he was a baby to present."
He also claims that he has suffered and will continue to suffer lifelong damages, extreme and permanent emotional distress and interference with his normal development and educational progress.
Stephen is asking for at least USD150,000 (RM628,000) from 15 defendants, including all the living band members, Kurt Cobain's estate managers, Cobain's former wife Courtney Love, and others.
Image source via nytimes
Stephen has recreated the album cover over the years to mark Nevermind's 10th, 17th, 20th and 25th anniversaries. But as he grew older, he expresses mixed feelings about the photoshoot.
Speaking to the Guardian in 2019, Weddle said he was still in contact with Elden and acknowledged he was "conflicted about the picture".
“Recently, I’ve been thinking, ‘What if I wasn’t OK with my freaking penis being shown to everybody?’ I didn’t really have a choice,” Stephen said to GQ Australia.
"He feels that everybody made money off it, and he didn't," the photographer said. "I think he deserves something. But it's always the record labels that make money." Stephen's parents were only paid USD200 for the picture.
It was the best selling record of all time, with at least 30 million 'Nevermind' copies sold worldwide.
