House of Cards (Radiohead song)

"House of Cards"
Single by Radiohead
from the album In Rainbows
B-side "Bodysnatchers"
Released April 6, 2008 (radio)
Format
Recorded 2005–2007
Genre Art rock
Length 5:28
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s) Nigel Godrich
Radiohead singles chronology
"Nude"
(2008)		 "House of Cards" / "Bodysnatchers"
(2008)		 "Reckoner"
(2008)

"Nude"
(2008)		 "House of Cards" / "Bodysnatchers"
(2008)		 "Reckoner"
(2008)

"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, was produced using lidar technology and released in June 2008.

Recording

An early version of "House of Cards" had a bass riff written by guitarist Jonny Greenwood, which his brother, bassist Colin Greenwood, likened to R.E.M. Singer Thom Yorke and drummer Philip Selway reworked the song with the rhythm on the final version.[1]

Music video

The music video, directed by James Frost, 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.[2] In lieu of traditional cameras, the video was made with lidar technology, which detects the proximity of objects from the sensor.[3] The use of lidar technology gives the video a grainy and grid-like appearance.[3] 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.[3] 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.[4][5]

Critical reception

"House of Cards" was nominated Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, Best Rock Song and Best Music Video at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards.[6]

Track listing

Promotional CD-R single[7]
  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

Charts

Chart (2008) Peak
position
US Adult Alternative Songs (Billboard)[8] 24

Release history

Region Date Format Label
United States[9] April 6, 2008 Modern rock radio ATO, TBD

References

  1. ↑ "Radiohead | Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. Retrieved 2018-08-18.
  2. ↑ "Radiohead make new video – without cameras". NME. London. 11 July 2008. Retrieved 11 July 2008.
  3. 1 2 3 Nye, Calley (14 July 2008). "Radiohead Partners With Google For Music Video Launch". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
  4. ↑ Chacksfield, Marc (17 July 2008). "Radiohead embrace open source". TechRadar. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
  5. ↑ Steuer, Eric (14 July 2008). "Radiohead's 'House of Cards' video data published under Creative Commons license". Creative Commons. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
  6. ↑ "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.
  7. ↑ "Radiohead Bodysnatchers / House Of Cards UK Promo CD-R acetate (438803)". EIL. Retrieved June 30, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Radiohead Chart History (Adult Alternative Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
  9. ↑ "R&R Going For Adds: Alternative (Week Of: April 6, 2008)". Radio & Records. Retrieved 29 June 2013.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.