rather ripped is a great album. Theres still the noise and guitar antics, you just have to listen for it, it doesn't pop out infront of you. give it a fuckin' chance, man. Its A+ material. + this is the first album where I think they did a great job on the vocals, they're actually singing songs.

RATS rules. It is a classic ghostly LEE song.
the squal of nopise at the begging and middle of sleeping around are amazing.


the whole album is a love album, with Lee's song being the counterforce to the love, the cynic decrying the lovestruck "rats"

Rather ripped is better than murray or nurse.

and i love those albums.

the more I listen to it the more I love it.

Rob is, to be quite frank, not the most intelligent person on this forum. Therefore, his opinion is void.

yes and some 15 year old wanna be hipster's opinion is to really be taken seriously :fuckyou:

that's funny.

a battle of wits mayhaps?

Lee owns the stage on RATS, he performed it with expert precision last night and I got to watch it. Classic SY

Society is a Hole. Assblather (sorry couldn resist)

Nope, I wish. Just some word association.

They did play Shaking Hell tho, really incredible live w/ Thurston on P bass.

yea, I think they've been doing shaking hell at every show, I caught it at bonnaroo...

Interesting "essay". I agree with you on some points. SY records aren't always immediatley likeable. Just becuase their music is more complex and down right different from what most people hear. Although, some songs I have immediately liked. More so once I became a Sonic Youth fan. And once being a Rather Ripped basher myself, I have begun to like the album more and more once I bagan really listening to it. I think the reason I was so innitially displeased with RR was that I was expecting an album that was along the lines of Sonic Nurse or Murray Street. Once I heard that it wasn't nearly the same kind of album (or any other Sy album to date) I was turned off. But a few weeks went by and I felt that I owed it to myself and above all to Sonic Youth to give the album another listen and discovered that it was pretty good. I still dislike parts of the album, but I don't dislike any full song, only parts of certain songs. I feel that they are lacking a little bit of something here and there. Sometimes I feel that if the band added a little bit more energy or an extra guitar part here or there (ya know, just a few little minor detail changes) the songs would come across much better. They would sound stronger and more confident; essentially more "Sonic Youth-y". In my opinion, it sounds like some of the songs are still in their infancy; the genesis of potentially awesome songs. But hey, it's the band's music and they can create whatever they want whether we like it or not. I will still continue to support Sonic Youth, one of my all time favorite bands, and give Rather Ripped more of a chance. It still sounds pretty decent. I just don't think it's one of their best works.

"TURN IT UP PEOPLE!!!! ROCK OUT.

rock OUT like you were 13 years old and angry as fuck and need someone to show you how love can sound, for Rather Ripped is a LOVE album, and that may be why it seems so discordant with the rest of their output, but I tells ya, the album fucking RULES!"

ROB IS THE MAN... nothing to add!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jesus. why do people who hate sonic youth so much even fucking post here?? Now people are being bashed just for being sonic youth fans? it's fucking absurd! this is the sonic youth forum, how stupid for people who actually enjoy the band to proclaim their love of the sonic music. This board used to be kool, but now it's over run by people who do nothing but bash anything that anyone might like at all. it's alright if you don't like the new album, but people act like sonic youth have never even put out 1 record worth their time, so why post here? Sorry they haven't re-made confusion is sex for the past 25 years, but get over it, and grow the fuck up. Y're not earning scene points here for bashing SY. fuck pretentious hipsters.

I'm not confusing familiarity for genuine digging, for the simple reason that in most cases, for me, I get tired of most music that I listen to over and over again. In other cases, I'll love an album instantly and then it wears out. There are some exceptions for both these cases, and the most notable one (and, here, most relevant) is Sonic Youth.

I once read an early New York Times live review of Sonic Youth where the reviewer was talking about how all the dissonance allowed for people to hear different melodies, sounds and interactions within the same sonic moment. I thought such a statement was kind of an overly-intellectual approach to the music (it's the rock riffs and it's Kim, man!!! -- or whatever). Now, I kind of agree. I think there's so much non-tonal stuff going on in the early music, and such a high level of unconventional arrangement within a rockist sound in their post-DDN output that the music is really open to you hearing a lot of things with it. Therefore, even though I've liked Sister from day one and have heard it, god, I don't know how many times -- I still love it. It's not boring yet, and I've known it for four years. And then there's Rather Ripped, or some of ATL or EJSTNS and I didn't like it at first, and it's grown on me. So, for me, in Sonic Youth's case, familiarity doesn't explain it. I think finally understanding it explains it.

That said, I didn't mean to suggest that every Sonic Youth album is equal; I don't even know what that would mean, really. I just think that a lot more of their records deserve a lot more "respect" or whatever from their fanbase and especially, especially from the critical world. (Kind of funny that Christgau is their big booster these days and has been when others keep talking more and more about how "old" they are, huh?)

And also, I'll reiterate that my main goal for this essay was just to maybe (but probably not) turn some people on to some good experiences with music they may not have really given a chance to -- not to force my own tastes down their throat. I do think that almost everyone on here has a favorite SY album that they think is underappreciated by most other people/critics -- if so, you might disagree with me about Rather Ripped, but I hope you get my larger point(s).

Play it loud.