This article originally appeared in the September 1999 issue of SPIN. “You must be high.” We heard that a lot during the time we spent preparing this issue. Which is understandable. Pronouncing the 90 greatest albums of the ’90s is a somewhat presumptuous thing to do. When you’re measuring the music this decade is offering to […]
Remember when Spencer Elden, the baby pictured on the cover of Nevermind, sued Nirvana alleging “commercial sexual exploitation” of a minor? The case elicited groans and outrage from Nirvana fans, but the band didn’t issue a statement on the case until now. According to Billboard, on Wednesday in a new filing at U.S. District Court in […]
The drummer is the job in a rock band with the highest turnover rate — a cliché lampooned memorably in This is Spinal Tap. And if it takes a few albums for a group’s definitive lineup to click into place, the drummer is often the final piece of the puzzle to arrive. But it’s often […]
Bill Maher is the latest person to address the Nevermind baby lawsuit, and unsurprisingly he didn’t mince words. “The words ‘victim’ and ‘survivor’ have traveled a long way from their original usage,” Maher said during his show Real Time with Bill Maher. “The baby from the Nirvana album says he’s a victim. He’s suing Nirvana for lifelong […]
The groundbreaking Nirvana record Nevermind celebrated its 30th birthday last month. Along with the buzz from commemorating the record, other news surrounding the notorious naked baby cover continued to arise. In August, Spencer Elden, a.k.a. the naked baby, sued Nirvana’s surviving members, Kurt Cobain’s estate, album-cover photographer Kirk Weddle, and the labels involved in the […]
I walked into Rhino Records in New Paltz, New York on September 24, 1991, with one mission in mind: copping the new cassette by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. After months of reading about the band working on the follow-up to their 1989 breakthrough LP Mother’s Milk with Rick Rubin, the time was finally nigh. […]
This article originally appeared in the December 1991 issue of SPIN. In honor of Nevermind’s 30th anniversary, we’re republishing our original review here. After a most fine lunch on a bright, sunny New York day, Nevermind is blasting through the little box on my desk and the finance department here at the lovely SPIN offices […]
The world changed 30 years ago today. Though it took a few months before the proverbial train left the station, the rumblings from the underground completely blew up when college rock and punk blended to form alternative rock, with Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl serving as the conductors. Nevermind’s legacy is firmly and […]
Nirvana’s classic sophomore album turns 30 tomorrow (stay tuned to the site tomorrow to see what’s to come on that front). Nevermind’s legacy is pretty damn safe at this point, that much we know. But, there’s even more to be unearthed from the band’s archive than what the 20th anniversary set revealed. Nevermind will be getting another […]
Next month, Nirvana’s Nevermind is set to turn 30. This month, however, the baby whose image was used on the Nirvana album’s now-iconic cover sued the surviving bandmembers, Kurt Cobain’s estate, photographer Kirk Weddle and DGC Records, claiming that the band violated federal child pornography statutes and says that the cover is child sexual exploitation. In the […]