No Sex For Ben

Ang "No Sex for Ben" ay isang kanta ng American rock band The Rapture. Ginawa itong partikular para sa soundtrack sa 2008 na larong bidyo na Grand Theft Auto IV, na lumilitaw sa kathang-isip na istasyon ng Radio Broker ng laro. Ginawa ng kilalang tagagawa ng hip hop na si Timbaland, ito ay isang diss track na naglalayong DJ Ben Rymer, inaawit ni Matt Safer, bassist ng banda. Inilagay ito sa numero 26 sa listahan ng 100 Pinakamahusay na Kanta ng Rolling Stone ng 2008.

Nilalaman 
Ang kanta ay isang pinalawig na landas ng diss na naglalayon kay Ben Rymer, isang DJ na dating British na electroclash band na Fat Truckers, at isang kaibigan ng bandang bassist na si Mattie Safer, na kumanta din ng mga lead vocals sa kanta. Ang track ay naglalayong maging nakakatawa na nakakainsulto, paghahambing ng DJ sa isang puntong "A poor man's Arthur Baker". Ayon sa regular na nakikipagtulungan na si Ewan Pearson, "It's basically Mattie taking the piss out of Ben. I think when Ben first heard it he wasn't quite sure how to take it. Whether to take it as an enormous compliment or a terrible slur. Ben has a very Sheffield sense of humour which means that he takes the piss out of everybody so I think it was just Mattie wanting to send a little bit back his way."

Sa musikal, ang track ay katulad ng tunog ng trademark ng The Rapture, na may mga karagdagang pag-unlad, tulad ng isang tao na beatbox, na nagmula sa paggawa ng tagagawa ng Timbaland.

Pagre-record 
Habang nagre-record ng kanta kasama si Timbaland sa SARM Studios sa London, ang banda ay binisita nina Justin Timberlake at Duran Duran, na nagtatrabaho sa itaas sa album ng huli na Red Carpet Massacre na ginawa din ng Timbaland. Ayon kay multi-instrumentalist na si Gabriel Andruzzi, "Next thing we knew, [Timberlake] came downstairs and was like, ‘Aw shit! This track is great! Can I get on it?' and he just went and sang, like, six backup vocals for the chorus." Ang mga tinig ni Timberlake ay kalaunan ay tinanggal mula sa natapos na kanta. "I guess we couldn’t get approval or whatever. Even if you are paying for the studio time and he takes up three hours of it recording your song," sabi ni Andruzzi.

Pagninilay-nilay sa karanasan sa pag-record, noong 2011 sinabi ng bokalista-gitarista na si Luke Jenner, "It was really fun because they gave us a truck load of money. It was as extreme into the pop world as we got. We did it in London with Timbaland. Justin Timberlake was upstairs recording with Duran Duran so he came down and sang vocals on it, then Duran Duran came down with their supermodel wives. It was good fun, I learned a lot from it but it was also the genesis of the massive breakdown that our band had."

Paglabas at pagtanggap 
Ang track ay itinampok sa Grand Theft Auto IV sa in-game radio station Radio Broker, isang istasyon na nagtatampok ng mga banda na higit sa lahat mula sa eksena ng New York indie, at inilabas ang eksklusibo sa opisyal na soundtrack na tinatawag na The Music of Grand Theft Auto IV na kung saan ay isang bahagi ng Espesyal na Edisyon ng laro at kalaunan ay inilabas nang digital. Ang kanta ay partikular na ginawa para sa soundtrack ng laro at hindi pa tampok sa anumang album ng Rapture o paglabas. Inilagay ito sa numero 26 sa listahan ng "'Top 100 Tracks of 2008" na listahan ng Rolling Stone pati na rin ang bilang 14 sa Triple J Hottest 100 ng parehong taon.

Ang kanta ay isang hit sa Australia, kasama si Luke Jenner na nagsasabi noong 2011, "That song kept us alive for five years. In the interim we played Australia once a year for five years because that song was a big hit there. Ordinary people know it. Australia is where I lived out all my 14 year-old rock star dreams."

Sa kaibahan, ang drummer na si Vito Roccoforte ay nagpahayag ng kanyang hindi nasisiyahan sa kanta sa pamamagitan ng pagsasabi, "It just didn’t make any fucking sense to me because it was the total antithesis of what I felt musically I wanted to do or what we should be doing." Samantala, ayon kay Gabriel Andruzzi, "It was interesting because of how much we’d loved Timbaland before. But it didn’t play to the strengths of this band at all."

Kinilala din ni Jenner ang kanta bilang ang genesis para sa pag-alis ng wakas ni Mattie Safer mula sa banda. Ayon kay Jenner, "Mattie decided he really wanted to be a pop star and didn't need us any more. He wanted to make Timbaland-esque music and got really weird and said things like, I want to make a record you guys don't play on. We were like, How's that going to work? That's not good!"

Noong 2016, nagkomento si Safer, "We worked with Tim on 'No Sex For Ben' on the Grand Theft Auto IV soundtrack, but he was also a really big fan of the band and wanted to sign us to his label. Working in the studio with him was awesome. He was so full of ideas and worked quickly and it was just about getting the best ideas down on tape without worrying about who the author was. It was just fun and I really would have loved to continue that relationship. The other guys didn't get the same things out of the experience and I respect that. But I think I enjoyed it so much just because it was like having somebody to work with in a different way who also got the music and brought something to it and there was just very little ego involved—a very different creative process to what being in a band can be like, where people sometimes get very protective about their parts, even if it means not doing things that might make the record better."

Sa tanyag na kultura 
Ang track ay itinampok sa unang yugto ng season 3 ng Gossip Girl.

Mga Sanggunian 

Mga awitin noong 2008
Mga sensilyo noong 2008
Musika ng Grand Theft Auto
Mga awitin ng The Rapture