We all know the horrible feeling of being exposed when your mother shows your old baby photos to anyone you invite into the house. It is embarrassing, and the worst thing is when it shows the photos in which your mp3 player device looks out to your potential partners. Well, something like this is what Spencer Elden says he feels, the one who was the baby of the most famous cover of Nirvana.
Elden appears on the cover of the band's legendary Nevermind (1991) album and has now filed a lawsuit in the state of California against the musicians, producers and photographers of that production for making commercial, unpaid and inappropriate use of his image.
Elden, 30, alleges lifelong emotional damage: "extreme and permanent emotional distress, interference with his normal development and educational progress." In addition, he assures that he needed "medical and psychological treatment" and describes the use of his image as child exploitation, since, in the center of the cover, he appears with his member in the air chasing a dollar bill, which, according to his statements, It makes you feel like a sex worker.
Elden's lawyers argue that the image causes "a visceral sexual response in the viewer." In addition, they explain that there was never a legal agreement in between for the commercial use of the baby's image and that although Nevermind made great profits, Elder never obtained a remuneration according to the album's earnings.
Now the young man asks that Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, Courtney Love and photographer Kirk Weddle give him the amount of $ 150,000 to repair the damage to his emotional health. In total, Spencer Elden filed 15 lawsuits and, according to The Guardian newspaper :
Elden seeks damages of at least $ 150,000 from each of the 15 defendants, plus costs, and requests that a jury try the case. The defendants have not yet responded to the lawsuit or commented on it publicly.
The defendants have not responded to Elden's allegations and have not released any statements. It is worth mentioning that Elden's relationship with his popular photograph has been bipolar, since in various interviews, he expressed that having been the cover of Nirvana generated job opportunities, and on other occasions, he declared that he feels bad that everyone knows his penis.
Either way, it seems that Elden has taken advantage of the notoriety that the photograph gave him, but in the end, the image has awakened a mood close to that of Kurt Cobain, who also felt prostituted by the music industry. Elden's allegations of child sexual exploitation can be disputed, questioned and have their nuances, but it's true that his image was a crucial part of the album's commercial appeal, and we all remember him for that.
