Back in 1991, Spencer Elden was a four month old baby who featured in a photoshoot for a grunge band named Nirvana. Photographer Kirk Weddle paid Elden’s parents $200 for the 15 minute shoot, with the champion image becoming the cover art for Nirvana’s sophomore album Nevermind.
Back then, few could have predicted the colossal impact that this floating baby would have on rock music at large. Nevermind grew to become the full-length that brought grunge to the mainstream, shifting focus away from the leather pants and cheese-infused world of hair metal. In the process, the image of Elden – with a hook and dollar bill later added digitally – has become one of the most iconic album covers of all time:
Now, Elden is back as a 25-year old grown man with long hair, and he’s recreated the image to honour the 25th anniversary of the album.
“The anniversary means something to me. It’s strange that I did this for five minutes when I was four months old and it became this really iconic image,” he said. Elden recently jumped in a pool at The Rose Bowl Aquatics Center in Pasadena to relive the Nevermind album cover with photographer John Chapple – and he had shorts on this time around. ““I said to the photographer, ‘Let’s do it naked.’ But he thought that would be weird, so I wore my swim shorts,” he continued.
Elden also says that he prefers The Clash over Nirvana, but he’ll always be the baby face associated with Nirvana’s pinnacle body of work. See the 25-year-old Elden in action below, and then give Nevermind a couple of spins – because it’s still headbang-worthy 25 years later:
