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Nevermind Baby Screen Test | photo 024 from a roll of 060.
Six-month-old Chris Chen was nearly selected to be grace the cover of Nirvana’s Nevermind, until a heated paternity suite dragged royalty and photo permission contracts far past DGC Record’s willingness to pursue image rights of Chen.
Dave Grohl would eventually bankroll a limited pressing of the album with this photo for the purpose of private gifts.
September 24, 2011 marked the 20th Anniversary of Nirvana's chart-topping masterpiece Nevermind: an album that defined Seattle's "Grunge" sound for a generation of music listeners the world over.
To celebrate, New York Journal's Arts & Leisure section—in association with DGC Records—is proud to present to the public, for the first time ever, the original screen tests for the Nevermind baby.
DGC Records art director Robert Fisher photographed countless swimming infants before selecting three-month-old Spencer Elden to grace the cover of Nirvana's career-defining album. Fisher also tested several monetary values, currencies and denominations, before he and the band agreed upon the simple power of the U.S. dollar bill.
Each Saturday for the entirety of the 20th year anniversary of "Nevermind," we will be presenting original, never-before-seen mock-ups of the album's packaging (as well as mock-ups generated in the planning phases of several more recent reissues and other rarities).
We're "not the only ones" who love Nirvana! And we hope you'll share these "stupid and contagious" photos with the fellow Nirvana lovers in your life!
Sincerely,
Max Paige-Vieux
New York Journal
