Motley News

Nope, not Nirvana. But a damn great holiday parody of one of my favorite songs by Nirvana, “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”  Just read along with the captions, and I hope you laugh as hard as I did.  I love the parody’s album cover… the little bow is too cute.  And Elmo will make sense when you listen along and read the captions.

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Here is the original album cover to compare against the parody…

Oh, and the infant on the original album cover is now 20 years old, and his name is Spencer Elden.  In an article from CNN, dated Sept. 26, 2011:

On the 20th anniversary of the album’s release, Elden, the now-20-year-old son of an artist, said in jest that now he suffers more tribulations than other famously photographed babies whose images are associated more with cuteness than grunge.

“When I am introduced, they introduce me as the Nirvana baby,” said Elden.

And because he was sans diaper when the famous shot was taken, there are other questions.

“They usually poke fun at me asking me, ‘Is it the same size?’”

“I always say, “It’s changed, do you want to see it?’”

Elden, also an artist, said he never met Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, whose looks and demeanor epitomized the ’90s Generation-X subculture, a group and a mindset chronicled in films such as “Slacker.”

“Definitely, I like Nirvana a lot and there are no songs that I don’t like — they all have a special place for people,” Elden said.

Elden said he is not swimming in cash as a result of his baby celebrity status. His father, artist Rick Elden, agreed in 1991 to work on the cover with fellow photographer Kirk Weddle. He received no royalties for the job.

“My dad was an artist rigging special effects for Hollywood,” said Elden.

“They went to the local pool, threw me in the water and that was it. It was a friend-helping-a-friend kind of thing.”

On Saturday, Elden said he celebrated the historic release of “Nevermind” with friends.

“We hung out … and just listened to Nirvana music, drank beer and hung out. It was a good time,” he said.

May you rest in peace, Kurt Cobain.  Here is the video from 1991 of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” featuring Kurt Cobain and Nirvana.