The band was composed of Rosenthal (vocals and guitar) and actor Bill Paxton (voices and samples), and featured a similar sound to late 1980s Devo.
[6] The package included a 180 gram green-and-white ("Ranch Dressing") LP pressing and DVD with videos for "Reach" (directed by James Cameron) and "How Can the Labouring Man Find Time for Self-Culture?"
Directed by Rocky Schenck, Bill Paxton, and Andrew Rosenthal, the video mimics the dystopia of Fritz Lang's Metropolis and German Expressionism.
"[8] The production included cameos from his future wife, fellow director Kathryn Bigelow,[8] as well as Aliens and The Terminator alumni Lance Henriksen, Paul Reiser[8] and Jenette Goldstein.
Three female bodybuilders Paxton knew from the gym also appeared: Dorothy Herndon (as a blacksmith) and Crista Videriksen and Val Streit (as bounty hunters from the cowgirl gang).
[2][5][9] Ira Robbins of Trouser Press described the band as a "wickedly inventive, visually oriented pop-culture nuthouse," labeling Holy Cow as "kinetic, silly, intelligent and infectious.