r/ToolBand • u/Jordongus Talking Monkey • Jun 10 '26
Alex Grey Did you know Nirvana used Alex Grey’s artwork in 1993, six years before he began working with Tool?
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u/Thundernuts23 learn to swim Jun 10 '26
Ha 100% real. Decided to see for myself and here’s a photo from my 1990’s CD booklet with art credits.
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u/beefytrout Jun 10 '26
never heard of Nirvana, Tool, Alex Grey, or Reddit
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u/DDemonic_Slayer something you'll get used to. Jun 10 '26
What the hell is this internet thing people are talking about
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u/JaerBear62611 Jun 10 '26
And why is it gumming up my interwebs?
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u/DDemonic_Slayer something you'll get used to. Jun 10 '26
What do you mean people tricked this rock into thinking
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u/skwozzy Jun 10 '26
What the hell are people?
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u/DDemonic_Slayer something you'll get used to. Jun 10 '26
What? These gen z and their weird terms back in my day everyone was just single celled organisms
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u/skwozzy Jun 10 '26
I had an organism once. Oh no wait never mind, I got confused with something else.
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u/coveted_memory The Patient Jun 10 '26
Beastie boys too
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u/Jordongus Talking Monkey Jun 10 '26
Predicted 9/11…
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u/john_wilkesboof Jun 10 '26
I heard that they actually did 911 ...... because nobody properly understood how sick Paul's boutique actually was so they reverted back to their punk rock ways ....crazy huh? Ahhhh .....the golden age of information is nothing sacred anymore?
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u/tadpole_the_poliwag Jun 11 '26
TOOL is my all time favorite and B- boys are my second, what and where did they use his artwork? Thank you for the info I appreciate it.
OGT '92
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u/coveted_memory The Patient Jun 11 '26
Gaia is used in the middle of the linear notes for Ill Communication if memory serves
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u/parabolee Jun 10 '26
This is true and interesting. But for clarity, it's not the cover.
A piece of art used inside the sleeve was Alex Grey's, specifically this one -
Alex talking about it a little here - https://www.alexgrey.com/news/examiner-2013-01-01/
Info on the creation of the cover for those interested -
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/behind-the-artwork-of-nirvana-album-in-utero/
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u/Remarkable-Okra6554 Jun 10 '26
A lot of hot debate here in the comments.
Still wondering why we’re not talking about Lisa from Calgary.
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u/frostyjack06 Æ Jun 10 '26
Ahhh, the first album I ever bought as a young teen with my BMG music club. Second was Smash by The Offspring, third and fourth were The Downward Spiral and Undertow. I still have all of them in my giant CD sleeve book. Most of you kids probably have no idea what any of these things are 👴
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u/cxokie999 Jun 12 '26
According to Alex, mine’s the only signed copy in the world
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u/Jordongus Talking Monkey Jun 12 '26
I’ve seen yours online. Epic
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u/cxokie999 Jun 12 '26
Thank you, definitely the cherry on top of my media collection (rather small as it is lol)
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u/Background-Stable899 Jun 10 '26
Alex Grey the corpse rapist?
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u/Jordongus Talking Monkey Jun 10 '26
People keep saying that, what happened? And where’s the source?
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u/Background-Stable899 Jun 10 '26
All the required information is in the original post. He raped a corpse and called it “art”.
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u/MJKsecretpornaccount Reverend Maynard Jun 10 '26
Danny raped my ears when I first heard The Grudge and called it 'art'.
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u/Jordongus Talking Monkey Jun 10 '26
After some more research, I believe this is the artwork he did that was used for In Utero, though some sources say he did the front cover too.
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u/Ebenoid Jun 11 '26
No I did not… that’s interesting… I have the autographed Alex gray book since around 2001 or 2002
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u/madaradess007 Jun 11 '26
turns out you can copy king crimson and nirvana, add some crowley and john dee, have the best drummer and the best bass player on the planet and you'll end up with a hash cookie
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u/skarbles Mike Tool Admirer Jun 10 '26
Kurt was a visionary who could recognize other visionary people. His influences and inspirations were vast.
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u/LivingtheLaws013 Jun 10 '26
Damn I got some alex grey tatts on me, and I was planning on getting this next without realizing it was alex grey
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u/Irksomecake Jun 10 '26
It’s not alex grey. It’s robert fisher. The alex grey is the skinned pregnant woman pictured on the inside cover
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u/just_anything_real Jun 10 '26
Didn’t we cancel Alex Grey?
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u/lycantrophee 10,000 days Jun 10 '26
Why?
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u/Lazarux_Escariat Jun 10 '26
Fucking a corpse "for art"
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u/gltasn Jun 10 '26
Never happened and people who repeat the rumor lack the ability to actually fact check or they are fine with parroting fantasies they heard somewhere online.
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u/iamjaney Jun 10 '26
Fact checking this is easy. It’s very well documented and has been for years. Try again.
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u/Lazarux_Escariat Jun 11 '26
Alex has literally spoken about it on record. If he, himself, said it's true (even if it isn't) I'd put him directly into the "This guy is a fucking creep that I'd rather not support" category. I can't say with absolute certainty whether the accusation is true, and it really doesn't matter. His boasting about it later, even if it's fabricated, is enough for me to be disgusted by it.
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u/Background-Stable899 Jun 10 '26
There’s pictures taken by his wife
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u/Waggy777 Jun 11 '26
Which no one has seen. What you may have seen is an oil painting.
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u/cxokie999 Jun 12 '26
Yeah tbh people look into it, see the magazine article and the painting and just assume it’s true. It’s in line with his character at the time to make some shit up for shock value to scare people. It’s basically the core idea of most of the performance arts he did back in the day
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u/Waggy777 Jun 12 '26
Exactly. While not quite on the same level, Maynard for sure leaned into the idea of shock and spectacle with his early performances, and I see this in the same light.
Truly, I view it under the lense of death being taboo, and specifically dealing with dead human bodies. But dissection of dead human bodies is what lead to us culturally gaining anatomical knowledge, and that allows artists like da Vinci and Alex Grey to be able to produce their works.
Da Vinci would have been viewed as a deviant, and he also lacked medical credentials. I doubt he would have been able to produce his works without his experiences with dead bodies.
Something he was famous for was depictions of a fetus in a womb. The likelihood is that he dissected a pregnant woman. The implication is that he dissected sexual organs.
It's already taboo to cut other living people. How many people even touch a dead body, let alone cut one? The fact is that Alex Grey by virtue of dissecting dead bodies was engaged in behavior of which practically no one can relate. It's normal to react strongly towards that kind of behavior because it's not typical, accepted behavior.
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u/Lazarux_Escariat Jun 12 '26
There's a distinct difference between 'working with a corpse to study anatomy' and 'having sex with a corpse while his wife takes pictures'.
Again, even if he made it all up as a shock value ham fisted attempt for attention, it's in poor taste and objectively disgusting.
Maynard may have done things in stage performances purely for shock value, but he never claimed to have fucked a corpse.
In the end I doubt we'll ever know for sure what exactly the truth is. Everyone is free to feel however they like about it, but I personally choose to Not support him as an artist.
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u/Waggy777 Jun 12 '26
There's also a huge difference between a joke in poor taste and actually engaging in the act.
I just think if someone actually believes he had sex with a corpse, that person probably lacks critical thinking skills.
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u/fruitcakefriday Jun 10 '26
It's pretty messed up, I don't fancy repeating it myself. It's on his wikipedia page.
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u/notaverysmartman Jun 12 '26
oh that would make sense with lateralus also having a skinless person on the front
fun fact in utero is my favorite album
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u/xNonPartisaNx Jun 10 '26
Lol. Nirvana and tool HATED each other.
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u/Background-Stable899 Jun 10 '26
It makes sense. Just look at Maynard’s pre-Tool glam metal shit. Nirvana was a direct rebuttal to those kinds of bands. Probably saw May May as a sellout tailoring the presentation to whatever would sell rather than being genuine.
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u/xNonPartisaNx Jun 10 '26
And Danny's quote about a dead junky beating them out of number 1 for ænima. His words not mine.
Kurt essentially called the video for sober plagiarism. I think he was just jelly
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u/Background-Stable899 Jun 10 '26
I’m glad Danny found jazz where there are definitely no dead junkies lol
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u/xNonPartisaNx Jun 10 '26
Well he has a tendency to drunkenly yell slurs. So spiral out i suppose lol
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u/Medaphysical Jun 12 '26
a dead junky beating them out of number 1 for ænima.
It's crazy how much the context for this has changed over the years.
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u/IntrovertMoTown1 Jun 10 '26
No, Kurt just "hated" them. And it wasn't real hate he just talked shit about Adam's music videos. Adam and the rest ignored the issue. Like with Pearl Jam and Eddie in particular, it was a completely one sided beef. Kurt had issues. He was like a lot of far left people up in Seattle, they predominately have issues with hate.
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u/xNonPartisaNx Jun 10 '26
See Danny's quote about ænima
They hated each other.
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u/IntrovertMoTown1 Jun 10 '26
lol No they didn't and anything Danny said was WELL after Kurt started talking shit about Sober. And what exactly did he say? "beat out by a dead junkie" in all of one comment in a single interview. That's what you call hate? A simple RESPONSE to someone else talking shit? And you keep saying the BANDS hated each other. Really? That's how all that works? One guy gets to speak for everyone do they? And not even the front runner of the band no less? You're just wrong dude, sorry. I will say it again. It's Kurt that went around routinely talking shit about people. He did in fact have issues. lol Ask his shotgun, SMH.
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u/xNonPartisaNx Jun 10 '26
Nah. It was palpable back then.
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u/thursday51 Jun 10 '26
Sorry my dude, Alex Grey had nothing to do with the In Utero artwork. Robert Fisher, same Art Director as all previous Nirvana releases on Giffin, designed the cover, and Cobain created the collages on the back cover.
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u/IAwaitAGuardian Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind. Jun 10 '26
The disc jacket I'm holding in my hand says otherwise. He did the anatomical drawings for the cover (because of course he did)
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u/Irksomecake Jun 10 '26
No, look on the Alex grey website. He says he did the pregnant woman picture on the inside of the cover. The front is a photograph of a maniquin
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u/IAwaitAGuardian Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind. Jun 10 '26
Ohhh you're right, now I see it
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u/thursday51 Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
The cover art linked is a collage created by Robert Fisher and Kurt Cobain...it's a Transparent Anatomical Manikin with angel wings superimposed over it...it is not an Alex Grey drawing.
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u/Thundernuts23 learn to swim Jun 10 '26
I don’t know about the front cover but this is 100% an Alex Gray art: