House of Cards — Radiohead

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nTFjVm9sTQ

This is a song that's been troubling me for a few weeks: every time I sit down to try and say something about it, it comes out more or less complex than I'd like. Some days it's a simple song about sex and seduction, wanting to hook up and leave it at that. Some days it's an encapsulation (thanks, CS125) of nightlife and modern society. Some days (nights, mostly) it's an anthem of sorts, asking to be reconsidered. I don't know what to make of Radiohead — I love them, I think they're great, but I can't say why. The complex musicality is impressive but not exceptional, the lyrics are poetry but don't seem like they'd be any good simply on paper; the instrumentation is unpredictable, Thom Yorke's voice is unusual, it shouldn't work. Each element shouldn't work, but together it absolutely does. I think that's the monument here, is that House of Cards is a pop song by a band that hates pop. If this were a song by old-school Phoenix, it'd be immensely popular, played on Chuck back in 2005, appearing in car commercials, played at high school parties. But it asks to be more mysterious, so we leave it alone.