Pete Stokes, a keen cyclist, and avid fan of the band Nirvana decided to pay homage to the Nevermind album on its 30th anniversary in a very interesting way.
He decided to hop on his bike and cycle a whopping 150km around the city of Adelaide to recreate the iconic naked baby on the album’s front cover.
The 45-year-old said that the project took months to plan, but the cycle itself took him around 8 hours, including pitstops and cafe breaks. He also listened to the album for the whole duration of the journey.
Speaking to ABC, Stokes said, “Earlier in the year [I was] going through my old record collection and going, ‘Oh my God, that album’s 30 years old this year,'” and after giving it some thought he decided, ‘You know what, that deserves its own little piece.”
Using the Strava GPS system, Stokes decided to go the extra mile and add finer details to his sketch, including the dollar bill that the baby is swimming towards. He added that, “We’ve got so much green space, so many parks which, from my point of view for doing this, are great to be able to cut through and take shortcuts.”
However, the project wasn’t without its challenges. Stokes said he had to get up at around 3/4am in order to try and beat the busy Australian traffic. He also added that, “The face was really difficult…but it’s good enough.”
The finished product is undoubtedly impressive and hasn’t gone unnoticed by the band. They posted an article about Pete Stoke’s project on their Twitter.
He timed the project to coincide with the albums 30th anniversary. Nirvana’s Nevermind was released on September 24th, 1991. It included the first appearance of some of the band’s greatest hits like “Come as you Are” and “Smells like Teen Spirit”.
The anniversary has not come without its complication though. The iconic ‘Nevermind’ baby, Spencer Eldon, is suing the band after 30 years for supposed sexual exploitation and profiting from “pornographic” imagery. If you want to read more about the ongoing controversy then click here.
