House of Cards (Radiohead song)

"House of Cards" is a song by the English rock band Radiohead, from their seventh studio album, In Rainbows (2007). It was serviced to American modern rock radio on April 6, 2008 as a promotional single. The music video, directed by James Frost, was produced using lidar technology and released in June 2008. "House of Cards" was nominated for the Grammy Awards for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, Best Rock Song and Best Music Video.

"House of Cards"
Promotional single by Radiohead
from the album In Rainbows
B-side"Bodysnatchers"
ReleasedApril 6, 2008 (radio)
Recorded2005–2007
GenreArt rock
Length5:28
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Nigel Godrich

Writing

The Radiohead singer, Thom Yorke, first performed "House of Cards" in an acoustic rendition at the 2005 Trade Justice rally in London.[1] According to the bassist, Colin Greenwood, an early version had a bass riff in the style of R.E.M.[2] Yorke and the drummer, Philip Selway, reworked the song with the rhythm on the final version.[2] Yorke described it as "mellow and summery", and likened it to the 1968 instrumental "Albatross" by Fleetwood Mac.[3]

Music video

The music video, directed by James Frost, was produced in a minimal set in Florida. It features rendered images of Yorke's face as well as those of several other people, interspersed with images of suburban landscapes and people attending a party.[4] In lieu of traditional cameras, the video was made with lidar technology, which detects the proximity of objects from the sensor.[5]

The lidar gives the video a grainy, grid-like appearance.[5] The filmmakers passed sheets of acrylic glass and mirrors through the lasers to create scenes in which the image appears distorted, partially disappears, or disintegrate as if being carried by wind.[5] 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.[6][7]

Release

"House of Cards" was released on Radiohead's seventh album, In Rainbows (2007). Along with another song, "Bodysnatchers", it was serviced to American modern rock radio on April 6, 2008, as a promotional single. At the 51st Annual Grammy Awards, it was nominated for the Grammy Awards for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, Best Rock Song and Best Music Video.[8] A performance of "House of Cards" was included on the 2008 live video In Rainbows – From the Basement.[9]

Personnel

Adapted from the In Rainbows liner notes.[10]

Charts
Chart (2008) Peak
position
US Adult Alternative Songs (Billboard)[11] 24

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[12] Gold 40,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history
Region Date Format Label
United States[13] April 6, 2008 Modern rock radio ATO, TBD

References
  1. Randall, Mac (1 February 2012). Exit Music: The Radiohead Story Updated Edition. Backbeat Books. ISBN 9781458471475.
  2. "Radiohead". Pitchfork. 28 March 2008. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
  3. Kent, Nick (1 August 2006). "Ghost in the Machine". Mojo. EMAP. pp. 74–77.
  4. "Radiohead make new video – without cameras". NME. London. 11 July 2008. Retrieved 11 July 2008.
  5. Nye, Calley (14 July 2008). "Radiohead Partners With Google For Music Video Launch". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
  6. Chacksfield, Marc (17 July 2008). "Radiohead embrace open source". TechRadar. Archived from the original on 22 August 2009. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
  7. Steuer, Eric (14 July 2008). "Radiohead's 'House of Cards' video data published under Creative Commons license". Creative Commons. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
  8. "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.
  9. "Revisiting Radiohead's In Rainbows: From the Basement". Far Out Magazine. 26 June 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
  10. In Rainbows (liner notes). Radiohead. XL Recordings. 2007. XLCD 324.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  11. "Radiohead Chart History (Adult Alternative Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
  12. "Canadian single certifications – Radiohead – House of Cards". Music Canada. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  13. "R&R Going For Adds: Alternative (Week Of: April 6, 2008)". Radio & Records. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 29 June 2013.
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