House of Cards (Radiohead song)

"House of Cards"
Single by Radiohead
from the album In Rainbows
Released	April 6, 2008 (radio)
Format	Digital download
Genre	Art rock, experimental rock, soft rock
Length	5:28
Label	ATO, TBD, XL
Producer(s)	Nigel Godrich, Radiohead
Radiohead singles chronology
"Nude" (2008) "House of Cards" / "Bodysnatchers" (2008) "Reckoner" (2008)
In Rainbows track listing 10 tracks "15 Step" "Bodysnatchers" "Nude" "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" "All I Need" "Faust Arp" "Reckoner" "House of Cards" "Jigsaw Falling into Place" "Videotape

"House of Cards" is a song by English rock band Radiohead from their seventh studio album In Rainbows (2007). The song was serviced to American modern rock radio on April 6, 2008 as the third single from the album. It was initially released promotionally alongside "Bodysnatchers" in the United Kingdom. The music video for "House of Cards", directed by James Frost and Aaron Koblin, was produced using lidar technology and released in June 2008.

Critical reception

"House of Cards" was nominated for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, Best Rock Song and Best Music Video at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards.^[1]

Track listing

Promotional CD-R single^[2]

1. "House of Cards" (radio edit) – 4:35
2. "Bodysnatchers" – 4:01

Personnel

• Thom Yorke - vocals, guitar, vocal loops
• Colin Greenwood - bass
• Jonny Greenwood - guitar, synthesizer
• Ed O'Brien - guitar, backing vocals
• Phil Selway - drums

Music video

The music video, directed by James Frost and Aaron Koblin, was produced in a minimal set in Florida. It features rendered images of Thom Yorke's face as well as those of several other people, interspersed with images of suburban landscapes and people attending a party.^[3] In lieu of traditional cameras, the video was made with lidar technology, which detects the proximity of objects from the sensor.^[4] The use of lidar technology gives the video a grainy and grid-like appearance.^[4] Sheets of acrylic glass and mirrors are passed in front of the lasers to create scenes in which the image appears distorted, partially disappears, or begins to disintegrate as if being carried by wind.^[4] The data used to make the video was released as open source under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license and is available at Google Code as both CSV raw data and Processing code.^[5][6]

Remixes

A remix of "House of Cards" by electronic musician Solarstone was featured in podcast number 56 of Radio 538's Tiësto's Club Life programme, released on April 25, 2008.^[7] The remix was given five stars by DJ Magazine, with an editor describing it as "a pure transcendental, bootleg beauty".^[8]

Charts

Chart (2008)	Peak position
US Adult Alternative Songs (Billboard)[9]	24

Release history

Region	Date	Format	Label
United States[10]	April 6, 2008	Modern rock radio	ATO, TBD

References

1. "The 51st Annual Grammy Awards Nominations List". National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. 6 June 2013. Archived from the original on 2 January 2010. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
2. "Radiohead Bodysnatchers / House Of Cards UK Promo CD-R acetate (438803)". EIL. Retrieved June 30, 2013.
3. "Radiohead make new video – without cameras". NME. London. 11 July 2008. Retrieved 11 July 2008.
4. Nye, Calley (14 July 2008). "Radiohead Partners With Google For Music Video Launch". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
5. Chacksfield, Marc (17 July 2008). "Radiohead embrace open source". TechRadar. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
6. Steuer, Eric (14 July 2008). "Radiohead's 'House of Cards' video data published under Creative Commons license". Creative Commons. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
7. Trance - Trance.nu - Tiësto's Club Life Tracklistings
8. "House of Cards (Solarstone's Subterranean Mix) – Radiohead – White". DJ Magazine (London) (461). May 2008. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
9. "Radiohead – Chart history" Billboard Adult Alternative Songs for Radiohead. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
10. "R&R Going For Adds: Alternative (Week Of: April 6, 2008)". Radio & Records. Retrieved 29 June 2013.

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
• Making of the "House of Cards" video on YouTube