Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	82/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The A.V. Club	A–
Entertainment Weekly	B+
The Guardian
Los Angeles Times
NME	7/10
Pitchfork	7.5/10
Rolling Stone
Spin
Toronto Star

Rather Ripped is the 14th studio album by the American experimental rock band Sonic Youth. It was released on June 13, 2006, by Geffen Records. The record was the band's first album after the departure of multi-instrumentalist Jim O'Rourke, who joined the group as a fifth member in 1999. Unlike its immediate predecessors, Rather Ripped was produced by John Agnello and recorded at Sear Sound in New York City, the same studio where the band's 1994 album Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star was recorded. It also completed Sonic Youth's contract with Geffen, which released the band's previous eight records.

Rather Ripped is generally considered one of the band's most accessible albums, featuring an abundance of concise and catchy songs that deal with melancholic topics about adultery, sexual frustration and infidelity. Upon release, the album peaked at No. 71 on the US Billboard 200 chart and No. 64 on the UK Albums Chart. The album's only single, "Incinerate", was released in 2006, alongside an accompanying music video by French director and writer Claire Denis. Rather Ripped received very positive reviews and was ranked at No. 12 in The Village Voice's 2006 Pazz & Jop critics' poll. Journalists generally praised the vocal delivery of singer and bassist Kim Gordon and the album's simpler and cleaner melodies.

Rather Ripped is the follow-up to Sonic Youth's 2004 album Sonic Nurse and the band's first record after the departure of multi-instrumentalist Jim O'Rourke, who joined the group as a fifth member in 1999. According to guitarist Lee Ranaldo, O'Rourke left the band to pursue film work and other recording projects. His departure affected the sound of Rather Ripped, with singer and guitarist Thurston Moore stating that the new record "is just a far more straight up rock and roll album", in contrast to the "darker, twisted, complex quality" of O'Rourke's contributions. Moore also explained that he decided to write simpler songs "for everybody to plug into immediately". The album's working titles were Sonic Life and Do You Believe in Rapture? The name "Rather Ripped" came from a Berkeley, California record store that later moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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