Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 5, 2026

Cold Hands

Cold Hands is the debut studio album by American rock band Boss Hog, released on December 2, 1990, through Amphetamine Reptile Records. The band recorded the album at Soundscape in New York City and Steve Albini's place in Chicago with their revolving-door "All-Stars" lineup, led by vocalist Cristina Martinez and guitarist and vocalist Jon Spencer and featuring guitarists Kurt Wolf, Jerry Teel, bassist Pete Shore and drummer Charlie Ondras. It is a punk rock, grunge, garage rock, noise rock and punk blues album incorporating blues and industrial influences whilst experimenting with samples, reversed tape loops, and noise.

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Jul 5, 2026
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Cold Hands
A nude woman crouched with her right leg covering her chest. A star wih the words "Boss Hog" appears to her right
Studio album by
Boss Hog
ReleasedDecember 2, 1990
Recorded1990
Studio
Genre
Length28:51
LabelAmphetamine Reptile
Boss Hog chronology
Drinkin', Lechin' & Lyin'
(1989) 		Cold Hands
(1990) 		Action Box
(1991)

Cold Hands is the debut studio album by American rock band Boss Hog, released on December 2, 1990, through Amphetamine Reptile Records. The band recorded the album at Soundscape in New York City and Steve Albini's place in Chicago with their revolving-door "All-Stars" lineup, led by vocalist Cristina Martinez and guitarist and vocalist Jon Spencer and featuring guitarists Kurt Wolf, Jerry Teel, bassist Pete Shore and drummer Charlie Ondras. It is a punk rock, grunge, garage rock, noise rock and punk blues album incorporating blues and industrial influences whilst experimenting with samples, reversed tape loops, and noise.

Cold Hands received mixed reviews from critics, who commented on its sound and style; whilst some considered it an improvement over Martinez's and Spencer's previous band Pussy Galore and Boss Hog's debut extended play (EP) Drinkin' Lechin' & Lyin' (1989), others criticized its pacing and considered it self-indulgent. Boss Hog embarked on a tour of Europe in support of the album in early 1991.

Background and release

Cristina Martinez formed Boss Hog in 1989, two years after her acrimonious departure from Pussy Galore and a stint playing guitar for The Honeymoon Killers.2 She initially planned on singing and playing guitar in the band, but decided to recruit Pussy Galore leader and her husband Jon Spencer as she felt she was too uncoordinated.3 After settling on a revolving-door "All-Stars" lineup with guitarists Kurt Wolf and Jerry Teel and drummer Charlie Ondras, Boss Hog released their debut extended play Drinkin' Lechin' & Lyin' (1989) through Amphetamine Reptile Records.4 With the addition of bassist Pete Shore,4 Boss Hog recorded Cold Hands in 1990 at Soundscape in New York City with engineers Peter Arsenaut and Ed Bair, except for "Red Bull", which was recorded and mixed in Chicago with Steve Albini.1 The album was released through Amphetamine Reptle on December 2, 1990.5 Its cover, featuring Martinez in a nude pose, was inspired by an Halston advertisement featuring Cindy Crawford.6 To promote the album, Boss Hog embarked on a tour of Europe2 that commenced in February 19915 as a five-piece, featuring Wolf and bassist Jens Jurgensen.7 The album has never been released on Spotify.8

Composition

Cold Hands is a punk rock,9 grunge,1011 garage rock,1213 noise rock,12 and punk blues8 album that incorporates blues1014 and industrial influences.11 Its songs emphasize guitars and "beats" over vocals,15 and experiment with samples, reversed tape loops,15 and noise.16 Spencer viewed the album as being "more woolly and experimental" than Drinkin', Lechin' & Lyin'.17 Ian Watson of Melody Maker described its overall mood as "desperate yet defiant", and its vocals "babbl[ing] insanely";11 Metal Hammer likened Martinez to a "demonically possessed fish-wife" with her growls.16 In an interview with No Trend Press, Martinez said her lyrics were mainly about "hate and love".7c Some of Cold Hands' song titles were derived from men Boss Hog knew18 including Shore and Matador Records co-president Gerard Cosloy;2 Martinez said they were originally planned to be working titles, but kept them as she thought it was funny and subsequently incorporated their names into the songs' lyrics.18

Martinez said that "Gerard" and "Eddy" are "songs about men that I have ruined".19d Leo Finlay of Sounds described the former as a "a mess of filthy blues" with "rolling" lead guitar and "frustrated" vocals from Spencer.20 Sharon O'Connell of Melody Maker cited the latter as showcasing Boss Hog's "speed-lurch style" with its "slow motion, ground shaking crunch".21 "Bug Purr" is an instrumental track that uses a cat purr sample as a bassline15 interspersed with wandering vocals and minimalist guitars lines.14 The industrial track "Red Bull"10 features a Roland drum machine from Albini's band Big Black22 and a guest appearance from guitarist Santiago Durango, whilst "Go Wrong" ends with "screaming" saxophone by Kurt Hoffman.10 "Pete Shore" sees Martinez yell over "searing" guitars.16 Dan McMinn of Spin likened "Domestic" to a "minimalist Tom Waits";15 a writer for CMJ New Music Report also stated that it "whispers tails of delight [sic]".10 "Duchess" and "Pop Catastrophe" are built around live-sounding, "unfussy" arrangements,20 with the former being a slow-paced "art-blues" song23 with a "swamp-funk" riff21 that drew comparisons with Motown,11 Jerry Lee Lewis,10 and the Plastic Ono Band.24

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusicStarStarStarStar12
The Encyclopedia of Popular MusicStarStarStar25
Entertainment WeeklyC+9
The Great Indie Discography3/1026
Metal Hammer4/516
MusicHound RockStarStarHalf star27
QStarStarStar28
RawStarStarStar29
SoundsStarStarStarHalf star20

Cold Hands received mixed reviews from music critics. Dean McFarlane of AllMusic considered the album to be Boss Hog's "masterpiece" and a key work of the New York underground noise rock scene, describing its style as "unprecedented".12 Watson of Melody Maker believed that regardless of how one perceived Boss Hog, they "could not be accused of [...] being yet another stupid American noise band" and that "there's no denying that [the band] have stumbled upon one hell of a sound".11 Edwin Pouncey of NME remarked that "What once spat and clawed as Pussy Galore now roars like the full blown exhaust of some greasy biker gang" and that the album "successfully kicks your head round the room to leave you aching for more",30 whilst Finlay of Sounds viewed the album as providing a "more reliable noise" than Pussy Galore.20 Sebastien Zabel of Spex praised the album for being more grounded than Pussy Galore's output, though he felt its "many clever individual parts" were obscured by Boss Hog "plastering over" song structures and criticized its first half's "undynamic wallowing in a bath of noise".23e Bill Wyman of Entertainment Weekly compared the album unfavorably with Big Black and criticized its "paucity" of energy and melody, citing "Eddy" as its sole song with a "discernible guitar riff".9

In Rolling Stone, David Fricke described Cold Hands as a "Cuisinart fusion of garage groove, industrial grunge and willful aural sadism".13 Metal Hammer's Technicolor Twins felt the album would appeal to those who enjoyed "experimental, tuneless, hardcore, wierd shit" and that it was "[a]lmost so bad it's kinda good".16 Jeremy Clarke of Q described the album as "nine painfully slow nuggets of sonic indigestion",28 whilst Ruta 66's Manolo Torres derided it as "auditory sadomasochism", believing there to be "no other intention than perverse entertainment, the cellular mutilation of rock carried out for the pure pleasure of what happens."24f Deborah Sprague of Trouser Press likened the album to a vanity press book with its "reliance on in-jokes [...] and calculatedly rakish rhythmic stratagems".31 Colin Larkin of The Encyclopedia of Popular Music felt that, as with Drinkin' Lechin' & Lyin', the band's provocative image failed to live up to its musical style.25

Track listing

All tracks are written by Boss Hog.1

No.TitleLength
1."Gerard"2:32
2."Eddy"3:13
3."Bug Purr"2:26
4."Red Bull"3:20
5."Go Wrong"2:54
6."Pete Shore"3:08
7."Domestic"3:12
8."Duchess"5:01
9."Pop Catastrophe"3:00
Total length:28:51

Personnel

Personnel per liner notes.1

Notes

Notes

  1. Tracks 1–3, 5–91
  2. Track 41
  3. Quotes are translated from the original text: "hass und liebe"
  4. Quotes are translated from the original text: "Songs über Männer sind, die ich zugrunde gerichtet habe"
  5. Quotes are translated from the original text: "das Songgerust zukleistern und es einige" [...] "undynamische Rumgesuhle im Lärmbad"
  6. Quotes are translated from the original text: "sadomasoquismo auditivo. No parace haber otra intención que la del entretnimiento perveso, la mutilación celular del rock efectada por el puro placer de probar a ver que pasa."
References

References

  1. Boss Hog (1990). Cold Hands (liner notes). Amphetamine Reptile Records. ARR 89192-1.
  2. Sonn, Marlena (December 1991). "Control Hogs on the Road To Ruin". Alternative Press. Vol. 6, no. 43. ISSN 1065-1667. Archived from the original on June 19, 2024. Retrieved March 1, 2026 – via Pop-Catastrophe.co.uk.
  3. Gladstone, Eric (January 1996). "Boss Hog: The Truth is Marching In". Alternative Press. Vol. 10, no. 90. pp. 54–56. ISSN 1065-1667. Archived from the original on June 15, 2024 – via Pop-Catastrophe.co.uk.
  4. Bell, Johnathan (2003). "Boss Hog". In Buckley, Peter (ed.). The Rough Guide to Rock (3rd ed.). Rough Guides. pp. 127–128. ISBN 9781858284576 – via Internet Archive.
  5. "Boss Hog – Cold Hands" (Press Release). Germany: Amphetamine Reptile Records. 1990. Archived from the original on March 6, 2026. Retrieved February 1, 2026 – via Pop-Catastrophe.co.uk.
  6. Schoemer, Karen (June 8, 1992). "She's the Boss". New York. Vol. 25, no. 23. p. 24. ISSN 0028-7369. Archived from the original on April 3, 2026.
  7. Leder, Tilman; Zimmerman, Sven (1991). "Boss Hog". No Trend Press (in German). No. 8. pp. 22–24. OCLC 722620544 – via Internet Archive.
  8. Brannigan, Paul (October 7, 2023). "10 brilliant punk and alt. rock albums that you won't find on Spotify". Louder. Archived from the original on October 7, 2023. Retrieved March 1, 2026.
  9. Wyman, Bill (February 1, 1991). "Cold Hands". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on October 11, 2015. Retrieved December 24, 2025.
  10. "Jackpot" (PDF). CMJ New Music Report. Vol. 25, no. 1. December 14, 1990. p. 6. ISSN 0890-0795. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 27, 2021.
  11. Watson, Ian (February 2, 1991). "Albums". Melody Maker. Vol. 67, no. 5. IPC. p. 30. ISSN 0025-9012.
  12. MacFarlane, Dean. "Cold Hands - Boss Hog". AllMusic. Archived from the original on October 28, 2014. Retrieved January 24, 2010.
  13. Fricke, David (February 7, 1991). "On the Edge". Rolling Stone. No. 597. p. 80. ISSN 0035-791X.
  14. Erika (February 27, 1991). "Derm Adent Und Liebeskumer" [Heartbreak and Adventure - Tip]. Die Tageszeitung (in German). ISSN 0931-9085. Archived from the original on March 24, 2026. Retrieved March 6, 2026.
  15. McMinn, Dan (May 1991). "Spins". Spin. Vol. 7, no. 2. p. 79. ISSN 0886-3032.
  16. The Technicolor Twins (March 18, 1991). "LP Reviews". Metal Hammer. Vol. 6, no. 6. UK: Rock Team Publishing. p. 32. ISSN 0955-1190.
  17. Andrews, Mark (March 21, 2017). "Back In The New York Groove: Boss Hog Interviewed". The Quietus. Archived from the original on June 21, 2024. Retrieved March 3, 2026.
  18. Worley, Gail (June 2000). "She's the Boss: An Interview with Cristina Martinez of Boss Hog". Ink19. Archived from the original on July 17, 2001. Retrieved March 3, 2026.
  19. von Felbert, Oliver (April 1991). "Boss Hog: Der Willie Zur Wollst" [The Will to Lust]. Spex (in German). pp. 20–21, 65. ISSN 0178-6830 – via Internet Archive.
  20. Finlay, Leo (January 26, 1991). "Albums" (PDF). Sounds. Spotlight Publications. p. 41. ISSN 0144-5774. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 9, 2022 – via worldradiohistory.com.
  21. O'Connell, Sharon (March 16, 1991). "Live! Boss Hog". Melody Maker. Vol. 67, no. 11. IPC. p. 27. ISSN 0025-9012.
  22. K.Z.; Cathimini (March 1996). "Boss Hog: Dulce Estrangulamiento" [Sweet Strangulation]. Ruta 66 (in Spanish). No. 115. p. 27. OCLC 436489395. Archived from the original on March 2, 2026 – via Pop-Catastrophe.co.uk.
  23. Zabel, Sebastien (February 1991). "LP Kritik". Spex (in German). p. 45. ISSN 0178-6830 – via Internet Archive.
  24. Torres, Manolo (March 1991). "Microsurcos" [Microgrooves]. Ruta 66 (in Spanish). No. 60. p. 56. OCLC 436489395 – via Internet Archive.
  25. Larkin, Colin, ed. (2006). "Boss Hog". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 1 (4th ed.). MUZE. p. 765. ISBN 9780195313734.
  26. Strong, Martin C. (2003). "Pussy Galore". The Great Indie Discography. Canongate. pp. 468–469. ISBN 978-1-84195-335-9 – via Internet Archive.
  27. Patel, Joseph (1999). "Boss Hog". In Graff, Gary; Durcholz, Daniel (eds.). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Visible Ink Press. pp. 146–147. ISBN 9781578590612 – via Internet Archive.
  28. Clarke, Jeremy (March 1991). "Boss Hog: Cold Hands". Q. No. 55. EMAP. p. 65. ISSN 0955-4955.
  29. Alexander, Phil (March 6, 1991). "Albums". Raw. No. 66. EMAP. p. 63. ISSN 0954-156X.
  30. Pouncey, Edwin (February 9, 1991). "Short Circuit". NME. IPC. p. 31. ISSN 0028-6362.
  31. Sprague, Deborah (1997). "Boss Hog". In Robbins, Ira (ed.). The Trouser Press Guide to '90s Rock. Simon & Schuster. p. 107. ISBN 9780684814377 – via Internet Archive.
External links