The cover was shot by Kirk Weddle, who was a friend of Elden’s family. Kurt Cobain reportedly conceived the idea for the cover art while watching a TV program about water births. “Sooner or later, I want to create a print of a real-deal re-enactment shot, completely naked. “I might have one of the most famous penises in the music industry, but no one would ever know that to look at me,” said Elden. However, in a January 2015 interview with The Guardian, Elden seemed more enthused about being on the cover. In 2007, during an interview with the Sunday Times, he said it was “kind of creepy that many people have seen me naked … I feel like the world’s biggest porn star.” While he has re-created the cover art for the album’s 10th, 17th and 25th anniversaries, he has also expressed discomfort about the nature of his fame. The 30-years-old Elden was four-months-old when he was depicted on the 1991 album cover. The lawsuit (which can be viewed in full here) calls out Cobain specifically: “Cobain chose the image depicting Spencer-like a sex worker-grabbing for a dollar bill that is positioned dangling from a fishhook in front of his nude body with his penis explicitly displayed.” Elden is seeking $150,000 in damages from each of the defendants, plus legal costs. The lawsuit lists Nirvana’s surviving band members, the executors of Kurt Cobain’s estate, and various record labels as defendants.

In a complaint filed on Tuesday at a federal court in California, Elden’s lawyers claim he suffered “lifelong damages” from the cover. The cover art for Nirvana’s Nevermind-which features a naked baby chasing after a dollar bill in a pool-is one of the iconic album covers in music history, but a new lawsuit filed by Spencer Elden (the baby in the photograph) claims the artwork is “child pornography.” Elden is suing the band over alleged “child sexual exploitation.”

Is nirvana nevermind cover pornography