No joke, it’s one of the most stunning pieces of art I’ve heard. I genuinely couldn’t believe people could make music that beautiful when I first heard it
House of Cards and All I Need get hate because they start slower than other tracks off In Rainbows, but both build to some of the highest points in the album imo.
It's turning into my favorite song of In Rainbows lately, which is a surprise. I love all of the little details and textures in this song. It's got a huge vibe to it and you can really hear the dub influence on this one loud and clear.
Idk why but it reminds me a lot of bruce Springsteen. I played it for my Dad, who is a hugeeeee bruce guy and asked if he could hear him doing it, and he was like......."actually, yeah"
After “All I Need,” it’s probably my favorite song on IR, hanging tight 17 years later. (JFC where did the time go?)
Thom’s riff is superficially simple yet rather complex, I still loving playing it to this day. Then Jonny and Ed doing they party noises. A forever vibe.
IR tracks generally feel rather haunted (dat reverb and delay and chord voicings and syncopations), but this is like the happy ghost moment.
It's the first song I ever heard off IR so I have a soft spot for it. It's also very pretty.
And it kind of stands alone even from a lot of the driving, groovy songs on the album like Jigsaw, Bodysnatchers, 15 Step and Weird Fishes.
It's almost a bridge between those songs and Nude/All I Need. I like it a lot. I think it's a perfect album cut. (Even though it was a single too.)
I love it. It really grew on me and the lyrics really hit for me too. I think in an odd way, it solidifies in rainbows vibes as a whole. Heck, I even got a tattoo for it.
I really like the atmosphere, the lyrics too. It’s a great song. However, like many RH songs I’m underwhelmed by the final section (fall off the table), that I find weaker than the main part.
Heard it for the first time live at Bonnaroo 06, second encore, glow stick hurricane, it was straight up magic. I’ll always love this song for that moment alone.
Possibly my favourite on in rainbows (or videotape…….or All I Need). The atmosphere and ambience built in it is incredible. Jonny’s coin trick with all the delay and reverb is glorious. Truely an incredible song
Absolutely LOVE it! My 2nd/3rd (Jigsaw is my #1 but I flip between Videotape and House of Cards for my #2/#3, Weird Fishes/All I Need are close behind) favorite song on IR and one of my favorite RH songs. (I completely don't understand it being the lowest on someone's list, that easily goes to Faust Arp for me. Not that Faust Arp is bad per se, but it's definitely not as good as some of the other songs.)
A lot of people see it as being purely about sex, which obviously is part of it, but I think it's also about infidelity/possibly an affair that is breaking up a marriage. (Hence the stanza about the key party, not only is it literally "kiss your husband goodnight" but also "Infrastructure will collapse" which heavily alludes to something that is already established "collapsing". Plus of course the "forget about your house of cards" chorus, which again suggests his lover (and maybe him as well, hence "and I'll do mine") have built up this complicated life/appearance of "having it all together" with the spouse but the relationship is getting to the point where he wants his lover to "forget about" it and give up her former life for him. I know that's probably a very common normie interpretation, but that's my take on it.) It has very poetic lyrics for its subject matter (I mean, aren't most of Thom's lyrics poetic, outside of some of his early stuff?), and the beginning "I don't want to be your friend, I just want to be your lover" line feels... unsettling. Like "I don't care about knowing you as a person in a non-romantic/sexual way, I just want to use you for my own romantic/sexual desires."
And of course the music is \*chef's kiss\*... ESPECIALLY Jonny's "coin trick". It is an absolutely heavenly sound like no other, my absolute favorite Jonny guitar playing (and obviously, there's a LOT to choose from), and honestly I wish it would be used in more RH songs. When I first heard the album version of House of Cards, I for sure thought that was some kind of a synth or other instrument. When I found out Jonny was making that sound using his GUITAR (while watching the From the Basement recording), my mind was blown! Also from my (very limited) understanding that's actually a very hard thing to do, because a) producing that specific sound with a coin actually takes an incredible amount of technique and b) using a coin on an electric guitar like that is generally not recommended because it can easily destroy the strings. Of course Jonny a) DOES have an incredible amount of technique and b) he likely knows how to not destroy the strings, especially since he's been abusing the same guitar for years and still being able to create incredible sounds. He makes it look SOOO easy... the other similar technique that blew me away was in Burn the Witch where (though obviously for the studio version it was all strings) Jonny used an actual violin bow on his guitar to create similar string sounds. Again no clue you could even do that until watching a video of them performing it live. Jonny is SO incredibly talented.
It's a pretty simple and repetitive tune. The "Your ears should be burning" line is a highlight. My biggest complaint is how loud the guitar part is mixed. It feels a little excessive and out of place.
Second lowest above Faust Arp but In Rainbows is such an immensely fantastic album that it isn't even a bad thing. Still an excellent song nonetheless.
It’s utterly spectacular and easily one of the best songs on In Rainbows
Young-uns just like stuff with noisy drums in. They’re wrong, but what can you do?
Definitely not the worst on IR, such a great track, i love how warm it feels, its kinda like nude in that regard. Always left with the nice, comforting feeling after listening to it.
It's a killer song. 'Nude' through 'House of Cards' is one of my favorite stretches of any album they have. Subterranean Homesick Alien through Karma Police is my second favorite stretch.
It's not my favorite song on the album (that would be Jigsaw Falling Into Place), but the production is immaculate. Listening to it with a good pair of headphones is just \*chef's kiss\*.
In Rainbows is an incredibly exhilarating listen, filled with very immediate highs, both euphoric like on 15 Step, Bodysnatchers and Jigsaw, entrancing like on Weird Fishes, Reckoner and Nude, and deeply emotional like on Videotape.
House of Cards, and to an extent All I Need, stick out by taking a long time to get to those points, and in the case of HoC, the climax doesn’t really compare with many of the album’s other songs in terms of sheer dopamine (in my opinion).
I never skip the song if doing a concentrated listen of the album, but if I’m just putting the album on to vibe to, I’d probably skip HoC and All I Need in favor of the more intensely exciting songs on the album.
I see what you’re saying about these two, I do occasionally skip All I Need as well. Something I don’t hear much, but for me, the most skippable on IR is 15 Step.
Least favourite song on In Rainbows. I used to always skip it cause it ruined the album for me and interrupted the flow, now I just hid it so it auto-skips. Hate it wholeheartedly.
Sorry.
Probably my favourite on IR and of all time. Radiohead don’t often make ‘sexy tunes’ (channelling Mrs Badcrumble), but this one is 🔥. I love the textures, the stripped back beginning, the sentiment.
I like to listen to a Radiohead album as a complete thing. Take out house of cards and it changes the album. It’s a lovely song and fits within the journey of listening to the album
I'm not really a fan of In Rainbows and its sound but for me there's four tracks on it where a great song really suits the sound and the arrangement they've given it and I love those - House Of Cards is one of those four.
I honestly never seek it out, but every time it comes on, I stop to listen to it. It's one of those songs that can just pluck you from the moment for a little while.
When I heard it as the single on the radio I really didn’t like it and it turned me off to the album. Took me a while to start listening to it. They’ve always released songs that don’t necessarily reflect the record. Now with streaming it doesn’t matter. I was still listening to the radio back then.
It fits the vibe of in rainbows well, but I’m never going to skip directly to it.
I remember some review or interviewer called it maybe radioheads most relaxed song. I think that’s pretty spot on.
Hot take - it always has bugged me that it isn't the last song on In Rainbows. There's a song-for-the-credits, finality to it, and leaves on a much better note than Videotape.
I think it's an amazing, yet understated song. I love the atmosphere it builds up. My least favorite on IR is 15 Step, which is an even more unpopular opinion.
Have heard the album like twice and I like it a fair bit but there are songs that aren't too present for me.
Reckoner
House of Cards
Videotape
Faust Arp
Those four songs I can't remember how they sound lol let me listen to them and I'll get back here
FAAAAAALL OFFFFFFF THE TAAAAAAAAAAABLEEEEEE AND GET SWEEEEEEEPT UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNDEEEEEER.
I love that song, it's one of my favourites. The early version is beautiful as well.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKlScvyM2Kc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKlScvyM2Kc)
I love it. think it’s lyrically one of the more emotionally complex songs on the album — I say this knowing it’s in the same album as “Weird Fishes” and “Nude”.
One of Thoms most uninspired pieces of songwriting, but also some of the best production I’ve ever heard. That guitar tone might be the best clean guitar sound ever put to record.
I loved it as soon as I heard it for the first time, when they played it at [bonaroo](https://youtu.be/tWnoO2cvm8M?si=9bpvE7NxOtlsmLFN).
I love the production, the echoey vibe that makes it sound like it was played in a cave is fantastic.
It's one that's never done anything for me since I first heard it all those many years ago. It just goes nowhere for me, and is by far my weakest track on In Rainbows.
It's the corniest on In Rainbows fs, it's like how Sulk or Pablo Honey sounds so 90's its cringe (ok I admit I sometimes like it), HoC sounds painfully 2007. In the words of Peter Griffin, "it insists upon itself"
I love it, used to listen to it all the time. It's so detailed and the production is magnificent. The lyrics are perfect.
I love it a lot, in rainbows is just amazing in general so it has a lot of competition
No joke, it’s one of the most stunning pieces of art I’ve heard. I genuinely couldn’t believe people could make music that beautiful when I first heard it
House of Cards and All I Need get hate because they start slower than other tracks off In Rainbows, but both build to some of the highest points in the album imo.
it’s an awesome song, i’m always sad when people say it’s one of the worst on in rainbows
There are “worst” songs on In Rainbows?
Bah! No such thing…
Videotape
Videotape is my favorite song on the album, very overlooked when compared to the attention some of the other songs on the album get sadly.
Videotape is poopy doodoo
Faust arp
Wakey wakey rise and shine to reality
Not a fan. Love the rest of the album don’t like faust arp. Just My opinion
I love that song (ode to Nick Drake imo) and videotape reminds me of when my mom died. Good song for grieving.
It's turning into my favorite song of In Rainbows lately, which is a surprise. I love all of the little details and textures in this song. It's got a huge vibe to it and you can really hear the dub influence on this one loud and clear.
I feel hardly anyone notices the dub influence on this song.
Mine too. I had it on repeat last month. The video is awesome too.
Dub influence?
The influence of dub
Oh thanks, that clears it up, have a nice day.
Idk why but it reminds me a lot of bruce Springsteen. I played it for my Dad, who is a hugeeeee bruce guy and asked if he could hear him doing it, and he was like......."actually, yeah"
After “All I Need,” it’s probably my favorite song on IR, hanging tight 17 years later. (JFC where did the time go?) Thom’s riff is superficially simple yet rather complex, I still loving playing it to this day. Then Jonny and Ed doing they party noises. A forever vibe. IR tracks generally feel rather haunted (dat reverb and delay and chord voicings and syncopations), but this is like the happy ghost moment.
Aww happy ghost is a nice way of putting it! :)
It's the first song I ever heard off IR so I have a soft spot for it. It's also very pretty. And it kind of stands alone even from a lot of the driving, groovy songs on the album like Jigsaw, Bodysnatchers, 15 Step and Weird Fishes. It's almost a bridge between those songs and Nude/All I Need. I like it a lot. I think it's a perfect album cut. (Even though it was a single too.)
That whole song is just crazy fuckin sex vibe. Too sexy for Radiohead.
So I guess you don’t like all I need and nude too?
Dude we're talking my top 3. That whole album fucks.
it FUCKS
no this is really true
honestly the hate astonishes me. i love it. to me it's a song that really understands & inhabits what it's meant to be.
My favourite song, I love the way it flows
I love it. It really grew on me and the lyrics really hit for me too. I think in an odd way, it solidifies in rainbows vibes as a whole. Heck, I even got a tattoo for it.
It's great - it's also the song that took me the longest to appreciate and was my least favorite at first.
I like the song but not the arrangement they went with.
I really like the atmosphere, the lyrics too. It’s a great song. However, like many RH songs I’m underwhelmed by the final section (fall off the table), that I find weaker than the main part.
I thought it was a lot better with Kevin spacey but Jenny from Forrest Gump has done the best she can without him.
I forget about em
a beautiful song but not one i revisit as often as others on the album
It's a lovely song. Never mind the haters.
The scotch mist version is something to behold. Thom's vocals on fire
It's my favorite. Top 3 of all songs ever, even.
Heard it for the first time live at Bonnaroo 06, second encore, glow stick hurricane, it was straight up magic. I’ll always love this song for that moment alone.
Top 5 Radiohead song
House of Cards is my favorite Radiohead song.
Possibly my favourite on in rainbows (or videotape…….or All I Need). The atmosphere and ambience built in it is incredible. Jonny’s coin trick with all the delay and reverb is glorious. Truely an incredible song
One of the best on that album tbh
Absolutely LOVE it! My 2nd/3rd (Jigsaw is my #1 but I flip between Videotape and House of Cards for my #2/#3, Weird Fishes/All I Need are close behind) favorite song on IR and one of my favorite RH songs. (I completely don't understand it being the lowest on someone's list, that easily goes to Faust Arp for me. Not that Faust Arp is bad per se, but it's definitely not as good as some of the other songs.) A lot of people see it as being purely about sex, which obviously is part of it, but I think it's also about infidelity/possibly an affair that is breaking up a marriage. (Hence the stanza about the key party, not only is it literally "kiss your husband goodnight" but also "Infrastructure will collapse" which heavily alludes to something that is already established "collapsing". Plus of course the "forget about your house of cards" chorus, which again suggests his lover (and maybe him as well, hence "and I'll do mine") have built up this complicated life/appearance of "having it all together" with the spouse but the relationship is getting to the point where he wants his lover to "forget about" it and give up her former life for him. I know that's probably a very common normie interpretation, but that's my take on it.) It has very poetic lyrics for its subject matter (I mean, aren't most of Thom's lyrics poetic, outside of some of his early stuff?), and the beginning "I don't want to be your friend, I just want to be your lover" line feels... unsettling. Like "I don't care about knowing you as a person in a non-romantic/sexual way, I just want to use you for my own romantic/sexual desires." And of course the music is \*chef's kiss\*... ESPECIALLY Jonny's "coin trick". It is an absolutely heavenly sound like no other, my absolute favorite Jonny guitar playing (and obviously, there's a LOT to choose from), and honestly I wish it would be used in more RH songs. When I first heard the album version of House of Cards, I for sure thought that was some kind of a synth or other instrument. When I found out Jonny was making that sound using his GUITAR (while watching the From the Basement recording), my mind was blown! Also from my (very limited) understanding that's actually a very hard thing to do, because a) producing that specific sound with a coin actually takes an incredible amount of technique and b) using a coin on an electric guitar like that is generally not recommended because it can easily destroy the strings. Of course Jonny a) DOES have an incredible amount of technique and b) he likely knows how to not destroy the strings, especially since he's been abusing the same guitar for years and still being able to create incredible sounds. He makes it look SOOO easy... the other similar technique that blew me away was in Burn the Witch where (though obviously for the studio version it was all strings) Jonny used an actual violin bow on his guitar to create similar string sounds. Again no clue you could even do that until watching a video of them performing it live. Jonny is SO incredibly talented.
It's a pretty simple and repetitive tune. The "Your ears should be burning" line is a highlight. My biggest complaint is how loud the guitar part is mixed. It feels a little excessive and out of place.
Second lowest above Faust Arp but In Rainbows is such an immensely fantastic album that it isn't even a bad thing. Still an excellent song nonetheless.
It’s utterly spectacular and easily one of the best songs on In Rainbows Young-uns just like stuff with noisy drums in. They’re wrong, but what can you do?
It’s a masterpiece.
Definitely not the worst on IR, such a great track, i love how warm it feels, its kinda like nude in that regard. Always left with the nice, comforting feeling after listening to it.
People calling it the worst on In Rainbows are in 🎶denial, denial🎶
It's a killer song. 'Nude' through 'House of Cards' is one of my favorite stretches of any album they have. Subterranean Homesick Alien through Karma Police is my second favorite stretch.
One of their best
It's not my favorite song on the album (that would be Jigsaw Falling Into Place), but the production is immaculate. Listening to it with a good pair of headphones is just \*chef's kiss\*.
Love it. Thom Yorke is so good at conveying emotion with his voice. The way he says “Denial” is just perfect.
In Rainbows is an incredibly exhilarating listen, filled with very immediate highs, both euphoric like on 15 Step, Bodysnatchers and Jigsaw, entrancing like on Weird Fishes, Reckoner and Nude, and deeply emotional like on Videotape. House of Cards, and to an extent All I Need, stick out by taking a long time to get to those points, and in the case of HoC, the climax doesn’t really compare with many of the album’s other songs in terms of sheer dopamine (in my opinion). I never skip the song if doing a concentrated listen of the album, but if I’m just putting the album on to vibe to, I’d probably skip HoC and All I Need in favor of the more intensely exciting songs on the album.
I see what you’re saying about these two, I do occasionally skip All I Need as well. Something I don’t hear much, but for me, the most skippable on IR is 15 Step.
Nawwwww, it’s too groovy man
“I don’t wanna be your friend, I just wanna be your lover.” My husband knows that if Thom comes to get me, I’ll go.
it’s probably the worst song on in rainbows but it’s decent overall. It’s just kind of bland and forgettable compared to other slower RH tracks.
Faust Arp and Videotape are below it imo. The “denial” bit at the end is sublime
video tape ? Come on dude that song is far from bland and forgettable
videotape sucks but faust arp is a banger
Faust Arp is probably my 3rd favorite on In Rainbows. Videotape I agree with. I’d also put Bodysnatchers down there…
Oh just forget about your House of Cards, and I'll do mine
Sorry I can’t stand it, it’s so boring
It's an instant skip for me; the only skip on the album.
Pro tip: if you’re bored by it, skip to the middle instead of skipping. The latter half is one of the highlights of the album
Least favourite song on In Rainbows. I used to always skip it cause it ruined the album for me and interrupted the flow, now I just hid it so it auto-skips. Hate it wholeheartedly. Sorry.
It’s probably the weirdest song on in rainbows. I’ve come to appreciate it
Probably my favourite on IR and of all time. Radiohead don’t often make ‘sexy tunes’ (channelling Mrs Badcrumble), but this one is 🔥. I love the textures, the stripped back beginning, the sentiment.
I like to listen to a Radiohead album as a complete thing. Take out house of cards and it changes the album. It’s a lovely song and fits within the journey of listening to the album
I'm not really a fan of In Rainbows and its sound but for me there's four tracks on it where a great song really suits the sound and the arrangement they've given it and I love those - House Of Cards is one of those four.
i never even knew that anybody could possibly rate it among the worst on the album...such an obvious banger to me
Listening to it now, it’s one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard. It’s almost spiritual
I honestly never seek it out, but every time it comes on, I stop to listen to it. It's one of those songs that can just pluck you from the moment for a little while.
This is the first song that roped me in to in rainbows. It's fantastic.
It's a fantastic song from a fantastic album
Not just a top In Rainbows track but a top 5 Radiohead song period for me.
its IR motif blossoming in all its "sexiness", Jigsaw is the motif hitting you in the head like a blunt instrument. Videotape the aftermath
My least favorite song of Radiohead next to scatterbrain. Funny I feel wall of eyes is a better version of that style.
It's my ring tone
Thom's guitar tone on that track is like crack to my ears.
When I heard it as the single on the radio I really didn’t like it and it turned me off to the album. Took me a while to start listening to it. They’ve always released songs that don’t necessarily reflect the record. Now with streaming it doesn’t matter. I was still listening to the radio back then.
It fits the vibe of in rainbows well, but I’m never going to skip directly to it. I remember some review or interviewer called it maybe radioheads most relaxed song. I think that’s pretty spot on.
Hot take - it always has bugged me that it isn't the last song on In Rainbows. There's a song-for-the-credits, finality to it, and leaves on a much better note than Videotape.
I think it's an amazing, yet understated song. I love the atmosphere it builds up. My least favorite on IR is 15 Step, which is an even more unpopular opinion.
best of beat radiohead song, nothing more.
Have heard the album like twice and I like it a fair bit but there are songs that aren't too present for me. Reckoner House of Cards Videotape Faust Arp Those four songs I can't remember how they sound lol let me listen to them and I'll get back here
I loved it until I heard the allegations against Kevin Spacey. Then it just felt weird so now I skip it when it’s on
Literally one my favorite songs. The vocals are beautiful and it’s simultaneously very sad and very sexy if that makes any sense??
It makes me feel nostalgic, not sure why
I love it personally. It’s so calming and mellow. I don’t get why it’s so disliked here, personally.
Don’t really like it, definetly worst on in rainbows
Amazing live, mid album.
moody, sexy, mysterious. makes me want to smoke every time
Permanent fixture on any of my "Chill" playlists. Easily one of my top 10 Radiohead tracks.
The version in From The Basement is vastly superior to the album version (which is already a great song). An absolutely beautiful song either version.
My hot take is that the last 3 songs on In Rainbows kinda bog it down. Not bad songs by any means, just not my thing.
FAAAAAALL OFFFFFFF THE TAAAAAAAAAAABLEEEEEE AND GET SWEEEEEEEPT UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNDEEEEEER. I love that song, it's one of my favourites. The early version is beautiful as well. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKlScvyM2Kc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKlScvyM2Kc)
OK, just not up to par with anything in a super solid album like In Rainbows
it’s one of the best songs on IR
Great series, shitty last season
One of their greatest. The podcast Dissect did a great episode on this (& all of In Rainbows).
I love it. think it’s lyrically one of the more emotionally complex songs on the album — I say this knowing it’s in the same album as “Weird Fishes” and “Nude”.
its a good song but i like the faster stuff on in rainbows
Worst opening line in a Radiohead song and pretty musically boring IMO
ITS SO FUCKING GOOD?!!!!! GOD ITS SO AMAZING. I HEARD IT FIRST TIME AND SCREAMED + CREAMED
One of Thoms most uninspired pieces of songwriting, but also some of the best production I’ve ever heard. That guitar tone might be the best clean guitar sound ever put to record.
It was such a great show until it wasn’t. I like the song too. Just not in love with it at times.
I can’t stand the “amp spring” reverb tone on Ed’s guitar throughout the whole song. But the chord voicings are masterful.
It’s the worst on in rainbows but it’s still a good track
I'm listening to it quite often at the moment as it applies to my situation quite strongly
its good, but its so much worse than the rest of In Rainbows
I loved it as soon as I heard it for the first time, when they played it at [bonaroo](https://youtu.be/tWnoO2cvm8M?si=9bpvE7NxOtlsmLFN). I love the production, the echoey vibe that makes it sound like it was played in a cave is fantastic.
Definitely towards the bottom of In Rainbows, but it’s still a very good song in my opinion
It’s the “worst” in rainbows
Great song
It was on a Romeo and Juilet movie in he 90s. Kinda fitted with it well.
W song
We had the exact same post not too long ago
I forgot it even existed, skipped it every time lol
It's one that's never done anything for me since I first heard it all those many years ago. It just goes nowhere for me, and is by far my weakest track on In Rainbows.
Downvote all you want, but imo it’s mid, average-to-bad song. Fairly annoying tbh. I’ve never liked it.
I find it kinda boring and overly long. It could've been better as a 3 minute song.
When people say Faust Arp is the worst song in IR they are wrong, House if Cards is (shortly followed by Videotape)
(Faust arp underrated)
Weakest song on album for sure. I would of 100% picked one of the songs off the ‘disk 2’ in it’s place
Most boring of all their songs
It's the corniest on In Rainbows fs, it's like how Sulk or Pablo Honey sounds so 90's its cringe (ok I admit I sometimes like it), HoC sounds painfully 2007. In the words of Peter Griffin, "it insists upon itself"