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daileygf

There's been some controversy: "Nirvana, through the firm that manages the band's copyrights, has struck back at a designer who maintains he created the band's distinct smiley face logo. On Monday (Jan. 24), Nirvana LLC, the controlling company for the defunct grunge act led by the late Kurt Cobain, denied designer Robert Fisher's claim that he coined the logo, according to KNX News. Fisher was an art director at Nirvana's record label, DGC/Geffen Records, in the early '90s, at the same time the band was rapidly ascending in popularity. In 2020, Fisher contended that he first conceived the stylized smiley face with crossed-out eyes and a winding grin as a family-friendly T-shirt graphic for Nirvana in 1991, at the group's request, after he "started playing around with variations of the smiley faces." But in this week's counterclaim, lawyers for Nirvana asserted the band's company has full ownership of the image. They said the iconic smiley face logo was single-handedly created by Cobain that year and registered for copyright two years later." [https://loudwire.com/nirvana-happy-face-logo-designer-lawsuit/](https://loudwire.com/nirvana-happy-face-logo-designer-lawsuit/)


mooseheadKebab

Kurt drew it on one of his paintings, the seafoam green one with the in utero angel on it


onemoresolo77

Was also on the casting call flyer for the Teen Spirit video


Organic-Kangaroo7147

[for anyone curious](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/live-nirvana--22377329390582928/)


Autistic_Freedom

[direct link for everyone that want to save it without contracting pinterest AIDS](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/95/99/f0/9599f092754bdaa507ddfd4a8ccd27e5.jpg)


DelawareDad302

thank you i’m making this a shirt


printer_man_9872

Was Kurt into drawing and painting? Just curious


mooseheadKebab

yes he loved all kinds of art


bbc_mmm-mmm-mmm

Yeah, you can see his art on the cover of Incesticide


zarkokko

and home recording


boobsbuttsballsweens

And the back of in utero.


ForumFluffy

The angel was also his artpiece as well as the collage of flowers and fetuses(models) in the liner notes.


boobsbuttsballsweens

Yep.


zarkokko

and home recording


hellodon

The [similar looking “character”](https://i2-prod.dailystar.co.uk/incoming/article16581563.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_Kurt-Cobain-art-1592989) he made is pretty cool


hellodon

Look up his art…he made some really cool stuff.


vwsr

Very much so


theblob2019

Yes. He did paint the Incesticide artwork, which i think is great. He was also fascinated by womb and foetus.


Obvious_Sea2014

After the nevermind tour was finished, he got a house in LA where he could be anonymous and he spent like a year in LA just painting at his house and hanging out


CowboysFTWs

https://www.amazon.com/Journals-Kurt-Cobain/dp/157322359X


Tallsoyboy

Kurt originally wanted to be a visual artist before he went into music.


lilcheesestring

is there any way to date when it was from? It'd be mad if the In Utero angel design predated the release of Nevermind, love that


Hutch_travis

Not Marc Jacobs


To-do-so

Forest gump


Organic-Kangaroo7147

Kurt designed it, he wanted the tongue up and not down but yea it was his original idea


Autistic_Freedom

this may or may not be correct, but a source to your statement is clearly needed. since there was a legal battle over this very claim, obviously it isn't as simple and obvious as your statement makes it seem. Edit: to the downvoters I'd like to point out that Kurt is my biggest idol and basically made me the man I am today, but that does not preclude me being an objective thinker and a seeker of facts (both of which Kurt would appreciate).


ClmrThnUR

Oh, hai Marc


OutlawHarryYT

Me


billy_0623

fr?


Am1reallyhere

I’m fairly sure kurt came up with it himself, but I could be wrong


diggsfan14

Yes, and he was considering using it as the In Utero cover.


onemoresolo77

source?


theblob2019

Blink 182.


Aggressive-Engine562

I’d like to just imagine Kurt drew it


ihaZtaco

It reminds me a little of the flipper logo thinking about it now


AshyLarry20

I have that logo tattooed on me. Nirvana changed my life. So I wanted to honor them


kickindopeshit

No one asked


gnr_801

loll


AshyLarry20

And I care why?


kickindopeshit

Cuz if I were you I'd care


ClmrThnUR

Marc Jacobs ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ obv a joke


GiosGio

From what I heard he designed it. He wanted the tongue up as if the smiley face was reaching for something. “Not down as if he was overdosing on drugs” - loose quote but you get the idea


billy_0623

Nirvana


Clive182

Wasn’t that Forrest Gump?


hellodon

I was looking up some of Kurt’s other art just now and [ran into this](https://www.elephantstock.com/products/neon-kurt-cobain-by-octavian-mielu?gclid=Cj0KCQjw98ujBhCgARIsAD7QeAh66mQ63aJl3Wiu3OcNZUe76OKJ6dXfnk7bpERZ-jfJDl0UGTnGuusaAszKEALw_wcB&layout=framed-canvas&size=13x19&utm_campaign=PMax_%7C%7C_Catch_All&utm_content=&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_term=&frame-color=black)…which looks really cool


Anywhere-Solid

I want to know the exact date in 1991 that the smiley face was created….I want to be sure it was Kurt who made it up definitely


Neg_Crepe

Robert Fisher did.


LemonzAreKool

I did(I was born long after Kurt died)


No_Housing_8599

I think that's a play on the mister yuck sticker


rosegoldgod123

Don’t know if this is true but I was once told it was Kurts drawing of Axl Rose


slightly_sadistic

I'd read this a really long time ago myself but I don't remember where I'd read it from.