10 Things You Didn't Know About Famous Music Album Covers
1. Nevermind - Nirvana (1991)
Even if you're not overly familiar with Nirvana you'll recognise this image. But, the original concept might have been something entirely different...
Kurt Cobain had wanted an image of underwater childbirth to be used, because, well, because he was Kurt Cobain. The record label decided against this. For some reason, the image of a child bursting from its mother - in a swirling watery mess of placenta, blood and all the other expulsions that occur during the beautiful moment of birth - didn't sound all that appealing to the record label.
Deciding on something a little less graphic, this led to the image we all know. According to Michael Azerrad's book, Come as You Are: The Story of Nirvana, executives would agree on the image as long as they could omit the child's genitals with a well placed sticker. Cobain was willing to accept this, on the condition that the sticker read, "If you're offended by this, you must be a closet pedophile".
No doubt pleased they had managed to steer away from the original concept, the label went with the uncensored version...