While Hipgnosis is best known for legendary covers like The Dark Side of the Moon and Wish You Were Here, their portfolio is vast and filled with lesser-known masterpieces.
These underrated covers may not have the same cultural cachet, but they showcase the same surreal brilliance and conceptual depth that made Hipgnosis a force in album art. Here are three that deserve more recognition.
1. UFO – Force It (1975)
At first glance, Force It looks like a typical 70s rock cover until you notice the surreal plumbing. The image features a couple in a bathroom surrounded by an absurd number of faucets and pipes, playing on the pun in the album’s title (“Force It” / “Faucet”).
The couple in the photo? None other than Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti of Throbbing Gristle, adding an unexpected layer of underground art culture to the image. The cover was even censored in some markets, with the image faded to obscure the nudity. It’s a perfect example of Hipgnosis’ ability to blend humour, provocation, and visual metaphor.
2. Rainbow – Difficult to Cure (1981)
Originally conceived for Black Sabbath, this cover features a group of surgeons posing in a sterile operating room, all wearing surgical masks and gloves but holding their hands in a strangely synchronized, almost choreographed pose. Look closer and you will see that Storm himself features in the photograph as well as Po's friend George Galatzon (front and centre), John Blake, Hipgnosis assistant George and his mate.
The image is both clinical and absurd, echoing the album’s title in a darkly comic way. It’s a striking visual that plays with themes of control, conformity, and the surreal nature of modern medicine. Despite its cleverness, it’s often overlooked in discussions of Hipgnosis’ best work but it is one of our favourites.
3. 10cc – Look Hear? (1980)
This cover features a sheep lounging on a psychiatrist’s couch in the middle of a beach. It’s a bizarre, dreamlike image that perfectly captures the quirky, cerebral humour of 10cc’s music.
The juxtaposition of therapy and nature, of the mundane and the surreal, makes this one of Hipgnosis’ most quietly brilliant covers. It’s not as flashy as their work for Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin, but it’s rich in the narrative and visual irony that was a hallmark of their best designs.
These underrated Hipgnosis covers prove that even outside the spotlight, the design collective never stopped pushing boundaries. Whether it’s plumbing puns, surgical satire, or sheep in therapy, Hipgnosis brought a unique lens to rock music. We are proud to have been championing their work in all its strange, surreal glory for so many years.
