rank the songs on nirvana's "nevermind"

that's a bad angle. but i assume it's making a very big claim to try to settle for something else

Just FYI, because I used to work for a magazine that commissioned and/or purchased a lot of photo shoots: models get a one-time fee for a photo shoot. They are not entitled to royalties, ever. The photographer is, depending on the rights specifically granted at the time, which may include:

• "first rights" - the initial purchaser has the exclusive right to the first-ever use of the image(s), then after a designated interval the photographer can re-sell the image
• "world rights" - the initial purchaser owns the image(s) in perpetuity for all markets everywhere

This dude's parents were paid a flat fee at the time of the photo shoot. Legally, that's the end of Nirvana's or the record company's financial obligation to him or anyone other than the photographer. If it can be proven that the parents never signed a release form, his lawyer might be able to argue that Nirvana, DGC et al. never had the right to purchase the image from the photographer (because the photographer never had the right to sell it) and the album must therefore be withdrawn and reissued with new cover art, all other licensed versions of the image must be withdrawn, etc., etc. But that's unlikely to happen, and he's unlikely to see any kind of financial windfall from it.

models should be entitled to royalties forever

also all this pc gone mad catastrophising needs to stop

Was a college freshman at the time of the album’s release and not once so I recall anyone even remarking upon much less being shocked about the artwork. This was at a Christian college to boot.

We must be about the same age. I was also at a Christian college when the album came out, and as far as I can remember the cover was a non-issue. Baby penis usually is exempted from our society's restrictions on display of penis, and considered a symbol of innocence rather than sexuality.

just came in to rank the songs on Nevermind and wow this is not what I expected to find.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putto

o well, whatever

just came in to rank the songs on Nevermind and wow this is not what I expected to find.

you forgot their Rudimentary Peni cover

in any case, I don't know how to feel on this case, I mean obviously I noticed there was a baby's penis on the cover but I never took it as sexualized. because if I had, at the age I was, I wouldn't have bought it.

but there is also something to be said in general (not necessarily just 'sexuality') of using a child's likeness on an album cover when they can't consent and knowing they may be impacted by it years later in some way shape or form, positively or negatively.

using a non-sexual example, can imagine if I was used as a baby on the cover of some really racist country or rock 'n roll group and discovered later to be the child and possibly associated with that band's dogma, that I might be upset by it.

for me the trauma aspect is diminished by years of seeking publicity for the role, literally 10 people would have know it was him otherwise

"The baby from Ready To Die and the smoking girl from Green Mind were unavailable for comment at press time."

1. Baby Penis
2. Baby Penis
3. & 4. (tie) Baby Penis
5. (I’m aroused by) Baby Penis

I haven’t heard the rest of the album. :(
― Bach on harmonica! (Boring, Maryland)

You forgot Baby Jesus Penises

Is there any precedent for anyone claiming a similar childhood picture was damaging?

I have to confess that while not really believing his argument, I did feel a bit "I can see why he is aggrieved at everyone else making money". He doesn't seem to be seeking that much, in the scheme of things?

I don't know but I'm not about to google "naked child photos" to find out. I don't need that in my internet search history. I seem to remember an art photographer who took pictures of her kids nude in a non-sexualized way in her work, and there was some controversy around it. Can't remember the name.

Sally Mann

there are definitely naked pics of me, my brother, and our friends from childhood in a swimming pool. as far as I know, they're not on a specialty website currently

She wrote a book about the pics, look like. From a NYT review by Francine Prose about the book

iThe book is honest about the price that Mann, her husband and children paid for the family photos. Stung and alarmed by her critics, Mann consulted a member of the F.B.I.’s Behavioral Sciences Department, who confirmed her fears that “some people would be aroused by these pictures.” Consolingly, he added that “I don’t think there is anything you can take a picture of that doesn’t arouse somebody,” but warned that the Manns might be in for “a rough time.” Soon enough, their rough time arrived in the person of “one obsessive who lived in an adjoining state” and who troubled “our waking and sleeping hours for years” with a barrage of letters and creepy requests for information about the children. “This is the first time I’ve publicly referred, in any detail, to the shadow this weirdo cast for so many years. I knew of course that it would only validate those critics who said I put my children at risk. . . . Unwittingly, ignorantly, I made pictures I thought I could control, pictures made within the prelapsarian protection of the farm.”

https://www.digitalspy.com/music/a389951/placebo-album-cover-boy-sues-band-for-ruining-his-life/#:~:text=David%20Fox%20says%20that%20he,he%20featured%20on%20the%20cover.&text=The%20boy%20who%20appeared%20on,to%20his%20lack%20of%20qualifications.

From another article:

In June 2012, Fox told The Times he was going to sue over the album cover as it "ruined his life" because he was bullied at school. Fox was last seen in the identity parade on an episode of Never Mind The Buzzcocks in October 2013.

and his Twitter page: https://twitter.com/davidfox2013

He sounds credible in the first article but evidently chose another path

there were a couple of Ride singles that had (non-genital) Sally Mann photos on them. Catchers singles as well iirc.

Here's some interesting background on the Nirvana cover shoot (with pics): https://milanote.com/the-work/the-designer-of-nirvanas-nevermind-album-cover

Never noticed the hand print before.

It's not hard to understand how this is humiliating to him, or that his nudity in the photo has exacerbated that humiliation. Reasonable and probably sufficient to claim "my privacy was violated and consent may not have been given" but they are also adding "and images of this nature are more broadly unacceptable because it is pornograhy"

the only criticism of the cover i can remember was a couple times hearing people (maybe even my parents?) tut-tut that it was cruel or dangerous to put a baby underwater

can they be tricked
can they be chucked

That aspect freaks me out too. I know they supposedly hold their breath by instinct, but I don't think I'd do that with my infant for $200 (...maybe if Geffen threw in a G'N'R poster).

my friend got his infant pool training at one years old, maybe this one had similar training

How and why is Chad Channing tied up in this?

That seems fair

He's on the Smart Studios demos packed with reissue too.

No smoke without fire

when I was like 11 I remember wondering a lot about that baby, if being on the cover of such a well known CD was gonna stop him from living a normal life somehow. just a dumb thought experiment. I guess we have the answer!

Geffen was concerned that the infant's penis, visible in the photo, would cause offense, and prepared an alternate cover without it; they relented when Cobain said the only compromise he would accept would be a sticker covering the penis reading: "If you're offended by this, you must be a closet pedophile."

they couldn't have known it was going to become one of the best selling albums of all time when they shot the cover, right?

the only criticism of the cover i can remember was a couple times hearing people (maybe even my parents?) tut-tut that it was cruel or dangerous to put a baby underwater

― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Wednesday, August 25, 2021

that was what I remember about the image, not the baby penis. I took my goddaughter to her first "swimming lesson" when she was 8 months old at her parents' request and it was a traumatic experience for both of us

That reflexive breath-holding thing apparently only works until 6 mos., though... after that, yeah, it's a whole other deal.

I vaguely recall an MTV News segment from the time mocking a store that tried to censor the cover, that’s about it as far as controversy.

Pretty sure DGC anticipated sales that were about the same as Goo.

Geffen was concerned that the infant's penis, visible in the photo, would cause offense, and prepared an alternate cover without it; they relented when Cobain said the only compromise he would accept would be a sticker covering the penis reading: "If you're offended by this, you must be a closet pedophile."

― symsymsym, Wednesday, August 25, 2021 7:00 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

The back cover features a photograph of a rubber monkey in front of a collage created by Cobain. The collage features photos of raw beef from a supermarket advertisement, images from Dante's Inferno, and pictures of diseased vaginas from Cobain's collection of medical photos. Cobain noted, "If you look real close, there is a picture of Kiss in the back standing on a slab of beef." The album's liner notes contain no complete lyrics; instead, the liner contains random song lyrics and unused lyrical fragments that Cobain arranged into a poem.

xxpost: well he sure loved violating his own privacy by featuring in all those magazines and documentaries of the album.

This is ridiculous however you want to spin it and will get dismissed as it should.

Way to make being part of something cool something very uncool.

xxpost: well he sure loved violating his own privacy by featuring in all those magazines and documentaries of the album.

it sounds like he couldn't resist trying to capitalise on it when he was younger & kinda got burned by it & now is understandably resentful about the whole thing

but that doesn't make his case not ridiculous

I was just talking irl about how no one ever said anything about the back cover, partially because the collage was so out of focus. Although Walmart later object to the In Utero art and "Rape Me".

It's kind of funny now to think about how scared labels were of retailers back then (particularly Walmart) and the power said retailers had re:stuff like LoveSexy and the Jane's LPs.

There really hasn’t been a more iconic album cover released since Nevermind afaik

Mmmaybe Ready to Die comes close but I would give it to Nevermind

“I wanted the word Nevermind to look kind of underwater and wavy. So I had the type printed out and I held it on a Xerox machine. As it was scanning I wiggled the image and it put waves through it. Then I scanned it again and wiggled it in another direction. That’s how I got the wavy type. Now you’d just go on a computer and use filters or whatever, and people say the wavy type is kinda cheesy. But back in the day it was groundbreaking damnit!”

this is so awesome