Peter Blake creates artwork for new album by The Who – the band’s first in 13 years

Sir Peter Blake, the grandaddy of pop-art, has created the album artwork for The Who’s new album, imaginatively called Who.

If “who?” is a question you’re asking yourself right now, the rock band were a stalwart of the 60s and 70s, releasing seminal album Quadrophenia in 1973 and going on to sell more than 100 million records. Who is the first album the dad-rockers have released after a 13 year hiatus.

Blake’s design features a medley of cultural icons in a colourful grid of references. Muhammad Ali, Batman, the Union Flag, the Routemaster bus and baked beans all make an appearance on the cover artwork, alongside Blake’s trademark mishmash of colourful symbols and typography.

Blake first met the band in 1964 at a taping of TV show Ready Steady Go. Blake has created album artwork for a whole host of rock royalty, including Pentangle, Eric Clapton, Oasis and of course The Beatles’ iconic Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band He also designed and contributed a painting to the sleeve of The Who’s 1981 album Face Dances.

The album, which will be released on 22 November, boasts themes as diverse as “the Grenfell Tower fire, musical theft, spirituality, reincarnation, the power of memory and an old rock star that has lost his marbles.”