It’s about time the Grammys gave Duran Duran some love, even if it technically goes to the art director.
Speaking of that, here’s a note for those who don’t follow Grammy fine print: the award for Best Recording Package isn’t about the music itself — it honors the art director, the creative mind behind the visual experience of an album. It’s a category that celebrates the marriage of sound and sight, and when it comes to Duran Duran, that connection has always been part of their DNA.
That means, The Recording Academy is recognizing Rory McCartney, the London-based creative director who shaped the darkly theatrical visual world of the album. With Danse Macabre, he designed the package around a Victorian séance. It’s mysterious, haunted, and utterly gorgeous in its commitment to aesthetic maximalism. It’s Halloween couture, for sure.
De Luxe isn’t the only contribution from McCartney. For Future Past (2021), he vibed it up with two moody photographs inspired by Japanese artist Daisuke Yokota, layering and colorizing them to reflect the album’s title — “one foot in the future, one in the past.”
Best Recording Package? Huh?
According to the Recording Academy, the Best Recording Package represents album artwork that “adds an additional sensory experience to coincide with the music.” Yeah, we Duranies know… few artists embody that better than Duran Duran. From the instant-iconic Patrick Nagel cover of Rio to the surrealism of Seven and the Ragged Tiger and the Nick Egan visual for The Wedding Album, the band understands that design isn’t just decoration, it’s an essential part of the musical storytelling.
A Grammy History That’s Long Overdue
But, let’s be honest: the Grammys have never quite known what to do with Duran Duran. For a band that not only influenced pop culture, fashion, and the entire concept of a music video, but also wrote some of the most memorable songs of the last four decades, their lack of gold-plated gramophone statues borders on the absurd.
No recognition for Rio, one of the most beloved pop albums ever recorded?
Nothing for Ordinary World?
Not even Best Song Written for Visual Media for A View to a Kill, the only Bond theme to hit No. 1 in the U.S.?
Sure, the band snagged two awards in 1984 (Best Video Album and Best Short Form Video for “Girls on Film / Hungry Like the Wolf”), but that was for VIDEO visuals, not the music. Maybe the Recording Academy never forgave them for skipping the ceremony. (Hey, they were busy being global superstars — priorities.)
That’s why the nomination for Danse Macabre: De Luxe feels like more than a design nod. Perhaps it’s a quiet acknowledgment of a truth fans have known for decades: Duran Duran isn’t just a recording package. They’re the WHOLE PACKAGE — art, music, and everything that moves you, stirs you, and makes your toes tap in 4/4 time.
And if the Recording Academy is finally catching on? Well, it’s about damn time.