In late summer of 2021, Elden sought damages in a lawsuit regarding the album cover photo against record executives, band members, the photographer Kirk Weddle, and the executor of Kurt Cobain’s estate. Six years ago, in 2016, he recreated the iconic photo as an adult with the word “Nevermind” tattooed across his chest in a seeming tribute to the Nirvana album cover.A judge has dismissed Spencer Elden’s lawsuit which alleged Nirvana violated federal child pornography statutes when it published the iconic “Nirvana Baby” as the cover of its “Nevermind” Album. It didn’t help Elden’s case that he often seemed to embrace his claim to fame, saying that he would probably get money from it when asked as a 12 year old by Rolling Stone magazine in 2003. His previous lawsuits had also been dismissed, but the judge this time did so in a way that would prevent him from filing continuous lawsuits indefinitely against Nirvana. On Friday, a US District Judge in Los Angeles dismissed the lawsuit saying that the statute of limitations had passed since he waited more than 10 years after becoming aware of the alleged infraction to take legal action. He claims that he has suffered continual emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and lost financial potential that has lasted from his childhood until now in his 30s. In August of last year, 30 years after the release of the landmark album, Elden filed his third lawsuit against Weddle, the record labels involved, former Nirvana members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, and Cobain’s widow Courtney Love. Elden claimed the picture on the album cover was sexual exploitation and child pornography and tried to sue everyone involved. The cover featured four month old Elden naked in a pool at the Pasadena Aquatic Centre in a photograph shot by Kirk Weddle in California that same year.

Nevermind sold over 30 million copies worldwide and featured the single “Smells Like Teen Spirit” which catapulted grunge rock into mainstream popularity in 1991.

Nirvana nevermind cover photo