#5 - Nevermind: Nirvana (1991)

It’s a striking image all by itself. Throw in the dollar bill, and now you’ve got some incisive social commentary as well.

So, you’re probably wondering, how did something like this ever come about? Turns out Dave Grohl was fascinated by a TV show he had seen on water births. Actual, live shots were a little gory for the record company, so a photo shoot was arranged instead.

The photographer was Kirk Weddle.

He’s actually a little downbeat about it all. “The record label didn't consider this a very successful shoot,” he says. He goes on, “It held up and it’s a cool image. But I don’t want that defining my life.” That said, he sure does a lot of interviews about it. He’s also definitely carried it over into some other work he’s done:

The Austin-based photographer doesn’t appear to have any other album credits to his name.

The model, Spencer Elden, was the 4-month-old of one of Weddle’s friends. Just to make you feel old, he is now not quite 30. 

He also wasn’t too happy about it all: “Man, everybody … has probably seen my little baby penis. I feel like I got a part of my human rights revoked.” He’s also not too psyched about never getting to cash in: “Everyone involved in the album has tons and tons of money. I feel like I’m the last little bit of grunge rock. I’m living in my mom’s house and driving a Honda Civic.” In a similar fashion to Weddle, though, Elden has given plenty of interviews, admitting that he earns some money making appearances and also uses his fame to pick up girls. And he wasn't too embarrassed to reprise that role again (sans penis):

Oh, and he also has "Nevermind" tatooed on his chest.

As on In Utero, the back cover was based on a collage put together by Kurt. And as on that other album, this collage has all sorts of scary things, like photos of raw meat and diseased vaginas, images from Dante’s Inferno, and an album cover of KISS’s. Personally, all I can make out is a monkey.

Nevermind is, of course, the band’s biggie. It includes “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” as well as “Come As You Are” and “Lithium.” It also sold over 30 million copies worldwide. Most importantly, though, it’s the album that really introduced the world to Grunge.

Krist, Dave, Kurt

As for parodies, this one’s got almost as many as Abbey Road:

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