Here's a pretty long post that touches on why the "Rather Ripped" 'backlash' exists for reasons beyond taste, and the reaction to almost all of Sonic Youth's albums after 1989. I realized while listening to Rather Ripped that each Sonic Youth album is a near-direct challenge to the listener to like and accept the album on its own terms, because almost no one has broad enough music tastes to instantly like Sonic Youth's entire output -- though I think most people have the ability to get past the "instant" requirement and really get into something long term. This mini-'essay' (not to be pretentious) ... will save your life.
I decided to post this after being, um, rather underwhelmed by Rather Ripped at first, only to play it a bunch of times on the record I bought of it and being slowly won over by it. I then thought back to my Sonic Youth engagement roots, in which a friend of mine had me listen to "Shadow of a Doubt." I wasn't really into that either at first. Finally, I fell in love with it. I went out and bought "Daydream Nation" and "Dirty." I had a particular, yet undefinable interest in liking "Daydream Nation," and had to listen to it several times before I found it anything other than a really treble-y, noisy, loud "punk" record. I fell asleep while listening to it. Now, I've bought it twice on CD (the second time to get the Blast First edition, which doesn't really sound any better than the Geffen release to my ears) and I even bought it on record (which is a really nice item, especially with that poster).
I think the most challenging albums for me after DDN have been the most challenging for a lot of people -- "A Thousand Leaves," "Experimental Jet Set," and "NYC G&F" (not counting "Free City Rhymes"). They're all really strange records that have such small things going on sometimes that it seems 'boring' on the surface. In some cases when getting into the Sonic Youth pool, you have to learn to marry the noise and the melody into one harmonious unit -- to bring sound into its own arena before we're taught the 12 note scale and all of that. In other cases though, like on "Female Mechanic Now On Duty," there's something about the music that seems unusually empty or thin; it repels me at first. But after awhile, I learn to listen to even that emptiness.
In any case, I think Sonic Youth's music is always hiding something. If you don't like an album by them, put it on and play it to death with the idea that you want it to be your favorite record by them by the time you're done with it.
For "Rather Ripped," I think the problem is two-pronged, one having nothing to do with the music but rather the reaction (or, really, reactionary response) to its perceived commercial qualities. Beyond the obvious reality that straight-on pop-rock music isn't really commercially viable anymore, just because it's catchy doesn't mean it's normal. Other than the song structures, the production on Sonic Youth's albums (other than maybe Goo and Dirty) has never been punchy or defined enough to make the music attractive to most ears. Sonic Youth can do a Beach Boys cover and it still doesn't sound 'right.'
As far as the music on RR itself, it might just be boring to you if you're just into Sonic Youth for the drums or the propulsive energy. And if you just really listen to Sonic Youth for the bass and the drums, you should try forcing yourself to like some of the rest of it; you're missing out on as much music as I was when I was 17. I think the more music we can 'figure out' how to like, the better we're going to be out in the real world.
One of the reasons I really dislike Pitchfork (besides the fact that a lot of the writers seem to be those kids that are C- writers in high school but pressure their teachers into getting B's, and so they've never learned how to write a persuasive piece of writing with a logical center) is because they seem so disinterested in taking records on their own terms. Almost every (and obviously therefore, not every) review is heaped in a band's extra-musical history and significance, and devotes a ridiculously small portion of the review to what the music is or what the music might be trying to do within an artist's musical history (if he/she/they have one yet). Even the reviews that I agree with in evaluative terms, I have great problems with their context and the philosophy underlying why they gave a record the grade they did. Pick a recent Pitchfork hyped band you don't like, and you'll find that the reasons they liked such a band have surprisingly little to do with the music and more to do with an objectively poorly considered sense of the music's "context."
Beyond the Sonic Youth challenge of trying to accept a record for what it is -- you know, obviously: listen to the music you love.
I also don't think an internet post can change the way anyone thinks about music, but maybe it can. Whatever the implications, I just wanted to pass along an already well-articulated but not often-enough reiterated thought about their work and about music in general.
Thanks for reading all the way through this if you did.
- Johnny American