In Rape Fantasy... was assembled as a loose sequel to its conservative bigger brother So Much Staying Alive and Lovelessness. Recorded simultaneously, they were intended to be a single album -- but they grew.

Some songs were written in the studio before and after a friend/ enemy tour. Some songs came from Tim and Mike Kinsella fleshing out fractured guitar pieces brought in by Sam Zurich. The epic 22-minute title piece came from Tim not trying to do side 2 of Bauhaus' "The Sky's Gone Out," but from the attempt to capture the effect that it had on him when he was 10 years old and accidentally bought it before he was ready to hear it.