Placebo Sued By Man Who Appeared on Cover of Band's 1996 Debut Album

A 28-year-old man is suing British group Placebo, saying his photo which appeared on the band's debut album 16 years ago basically destroyed his life and was used without permission.

According to the Daily Mail, David Fox says the album's success caused him to be bullied in school and made to feel like an outsider. Fox, then 12 at the time, eventually dropped out of important British educational tests as a result.

"It was in Virgin, it was in HMV, it was in Tesco, it was all over the place," Fox said of the album which features songs 'Nancy Boy,' 'Come Home' and 'Bionic' among others. "I was watching EastEnders with my mum and I saw one of the billboards by the Tube station and it had my face on there."

Fox also told the publication fellow classmates and even teachers would ask him about the photo, one which Fox said his cousin, "a professional photographer," took following the death of Fox's brother. After dropping out of school Fox trained as a chef but lost his job as the economy took a downward turn.

The group has not commented on Fox's lawsuit while the band's agents, Riverman Mangement, said the suit should be against the Virgin record label as they issued the album. The group released their last studio album Battle For the Sun in 2009. A B-Sides: 1996-2006 compilation came out in 2011.

The issue of people appearing on album covers isn't a new one, with Vampire Weekend's 2010 album Contra being one of the latest controversies. The group used a 1983 photo of then-model Ann Kirsten Kennis for the cover, but Kennis only found out about it after her daughter showed her the album. The model sued the band and photographer but settled out of court.

Meanwhile, Blink 182's Enema of the State album cover featured porn star Janine Lindemulder wearing a latex glove. Lindemulder has since been arrested and imprisoned for tax evasion and assaulted former Sandra Bullock beau Jesse James.

Perhaps one of the better known child stars from album covers or videos is the Blind Melon "Bee Girl" from the video "No Rain." Now 29, Heather DeLoach graduated from California State University Fullerton and has had some success as an actor, appearing in two episodes of ER as well as the comedy Reno 911!

And then there's Spencer Elden, a 20-year-old man who's most famous for being a naked baby in a swimming pool on the cover of Nirvana's Nevermind album. In a CNN interview last September, Elden says he gets playfully teased about being "the Nirvana baby." Elden said he received no royalties from the photo but continues to work as an artist in California.

Finally, Peter Rowen, the child who appears on the U2 album covers for Boy and War albums, was tracked down last October by the Hollywood Reporter. Rowen now works as a photographer in Dublin but still gets asked about it. Oddly enough, according to the article, Rowen had a chance conversation with a gentleman a few years back.

"A guy started talking to me about my camera and said he used to be a photograph and his most famous photograph was 'War,'" Rowen said. "I said, 'that was me!' He's a judge now."