{"id":134430,"date":"2025-10-03T15:59:49","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T23:59:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/10\/03\/federal-judge-rules-on-nirvanas-nevermind-album-cover-case\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T15:59:49","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T23:59:49","slug":"federal-judge-rules-on-nirvanas-nevermind-album-cover-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/10\/03\/federal-judge-rules-on-nirvanas-nevermind-album-cover-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Judge Rules On Nirvana\u2019s \u2018Nevermind\u2019 Album Cover Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes millions of people buying a picture of a naked baby is just art. Called \u201cone of the most iconic album covers ever<\/a>\u201d by Indie Underground, Nirvana\u2019s second second album, \u201cNevermind,\u201d isn\u2019t actually all that complex. There\u2019s a body of water and what looks like a naked baby swimming toward a dollar on a fish hook. To many, the album looks like a reminder of their youth and when grunge killed glam metal. To Spencer Elden \u2014 the baby photographed for the album \u2014 the album looked like child pornography.<\/p>\n

He filed suit back in 2021 over the photo. Years later, it looks like there is some finality to the question of whether the album cover counts as child porn or not. ABA Journal has coverage:<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Fernando Olguin of the Central District of California ruled against<\/a> Spencer Elden and tossed the 2021 that case he filed over the picture taken when he was 4 months old, report the New York Times<\/a>, Law360<\/a> and Reuters<\/a>.
\u2026
Olguin disagreed after examining several factors. They included whether the focal point of the depiction is on the child\u2019s genitalia, whether the setting is sexually suggestive, whether the child is nude, and whether the depiction is intended to elicit a sexual response in the viewer.<\/p>\n

Of the listed factors, the judge said that the only one relevant to the photo was that the child was nude. I do wonder about the focal point prong though \u2014 would the cover have been as iconic if the baby was wearing a diaper? Either way, we finally have some closure on the question. <\/p>\n

Naked Baby On Nirvana Album Cover Wasn\u2019t Child Porn Victim, Federal Judge Rule <\/a>[ABA Journal]<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: Smells Like\u2026 Child Pornography<\/a>?<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim,\u00a0is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at\u00a0cwilliams@abovethelaw.com <\/a>and by tweet at\u00a0@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Federal Judge Rules On Nirvana\u2019s \u2018Nevermind\u2019 Album Cover Case<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sometimes millions of people buying a picture of a naked baby is just art. Called \u201cone of the most iconic album covers ever<\/a>\u201d by Indie Underground, Nirvana\u2019s second second album, \u201cNevermind,\u201d isn\u2019t actually all that complex. There\u2019s a body of water and what looks like a naked baby swimming toward a dollar on a fish hook. To many, the album looks like a reminder of their youth and when grunge killed glam metal. To Spencer Elden \u2014 the baby photographed for the album \u2014 the album looked like child pornography.<\/p>\n

He filed suit back in 2021 over the photo. Years later, it looks like there is some finality to the question of whether the album cover counts as child porn or not. ABA Journal has coverage:<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Fernando Olguin of the Central District of California ruled against<\/a> Spencer Elden and tossed the 2021 that case he filed over the picture taken when he was 4 months old, report the New York Times<\/a>, Law360<\/a> and Reuters<\/a>.
\u2026
Olguin disagreed after examining several factors. They included whether the focal point of the depiction is on the child\u2019s genitalia, whether the setting is sexually suggestive, whether the child is nude, and whether the depiction is intended to elicit a sexual response in the viewer.<\/p>\n

Of the listed factors, the judge said that the only one relevant to the photo was that the child was nude. I do wonder about the focal point prong though \u2014 would the cover have been as iconic if the baby was wearing a diaper? Either way, we finally have some closure on the question. <\/p>\n

Naked Baby On Nirvana Album Cover Wasn\u2019t Child Porn Victim, Federal Judge Rule <\/a>[ABA Journal]<\/p>\n

Earlier<\/strong>: Smells Like\u2026 Child Pornography<\/a>?<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord\u2122 in the Facebook group\u00a0Law School Memes for Edgy T14s . \u00a0He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who is learning to swim,\u00a0is interested in critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at\u00a0cwilliams@abovethelaw.com <\/a>and by tweet at\u00a0@WritesForRent<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Federal Judge Rules On Nirvana\u2019s \u2018Nevermind\u2019 Album Cover Case<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes millions of people buying a picture of a naked baby is just art. Called \u201cone of the most iconic album covers ever\u201d by Indie Underground, Nirvana\u2019s second second album, \u201cNevermind,\u201d isn\u2019t actually all that complex. There\u2019s a body of water and what looks like a naked baby swimming toward a dollar on a fish […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":134431,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Chris-Williams-2025-GQBWg2.jpg?fit=512%2C288&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}