Nirvana's Nevermind - Digipak Analysis (Revisited)

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Nirvana - Nevermind

Original Nirvana monkey named 'Chim Chim'

This is the deluxe CD edition for Nirvana's famous Nevermind album. The reason for creating this special digipak edition was because it was for the 20th anniversary, the tri-fold nature of the digipak is effective at housing both CDs that came included in this special edition. The Nevermind album cover was an attempt for Nirvana to break the mould from being the small independent band to a larger mainstream one and companies in America had a problem with its controversial album design, notably for Walmart was not the fact that the baby was going for a dollar that was on a hook but the fact that his penis was in clear view. 

I believe that Cobain and co were anticipating this sort of reaction as they wanted to shock and create a memorable image for the basis of the following three years of their band and attempted to dispute the values that many Americans obtained. The cover had a baby greedily pursing the dollar hooked on a fishing line, symbolising the grubby temptation despite the innocent nature of the young baby, despite the fact that he clearly does not understand the meaning of a currency or it's use, big corporations will hook us in as young as possible, onto the consumerist nature that comes so naturally to many, because of this hook from a young age, this hook on greed, consumerism, ready to fit into the corporate system, this is likely the dominant message (viewed as producer intended) from Stuart Hall's reception theory. Ironically of course, this album pushed Nirvana to the extreme level of success, turing them into the political statement that they had once been attempting to express, although I can't say that the band really conformed to 'celebrity life'.  

The uses and gratifications theory can be applied to the consumer of this album, where they would actively seek the music to fulfil their current mood. The use will mostly be for entertainment, such as the escapism that music can provide, and that is certainly true for this genre and album. However, because of the controversial nature of this album release (e.g. the naked baby), it's use can also be applied to social interaction because it sparks conversation between people, especially in this example, as it was frequently occurring on the news for the album art and for Cobain's drug abuse.

Original Release CD

The actual digipak its self has a personal touch to it with scanned in copies of the bands scribbles because the second CD included had some of their B side recordings on it and those that would likely purchase the album again would be fans of the original and thus to entice them into buying the deluxe edition this personal element draws them in. The handwritten track listing on both sides is rough and scribbly, which fits even the genre (Grunge) and their general personality, it also fits into Tess Perkins' theory of stereotypes, where this digipak has been aimed at, therefore the designers will attempt to conform to the grunge stereotype that their audience is known for having. The monkey used as the left panel in the digipak was originally on the back cover of their original release and it comes from early promotional stickers, as you can see above. It gives that personal throw back to the original album and although adjusted, still keeps the small details from the original release. The digipak generally conforms to the traditions of the rock and grunge but the CDs do not as they seem a bit too 'clean' and the design to me seems to simplistic and the design of the CD is similar to the Bossa Nova digipak I had viewed previously with simple colours, very different to the original CD design that was released, as you see: