Which artist designed the cover for The Who's album Tommy?

Which artist designed the cover for The Who’s album Tommy? Mike McInnerney designed the cover for Tommy. His artwork helped give The Who’s ambitious rock opera a visual identity that matched its spiritual, psychological and cosmic themes.

Pete Townshend asked McInnerney to create the artwork in September 1968. The two were fellow followers of Meher Baba, whose teachings influenced Townshend’s writing and the album’s broader conception. McInnerney received recordings and an outline of the story, then developed the imagery for the original two-LP package.

The original presentation used a triptych-style fold-out cover and included a booklet with lyrics and illustrations connected to Tommy’s narrative. The album’s packaging is often confused with work by Richard Hamilton, Peter Blake or the design collective Hipgnosis, all major names in British album art but not the credited designer here. Later editions changed some presentation details, while McInnerney’s complete artwork was restored for a 1996 remastered release.