The Future is X-Rated (2000)

"The Future is X-Rated" was directed by Bill Morrison. It was the fourth video to be released off of Beautiful Midnight. It features the infamous monkey mask and several subliminal messages.

The video opens on a sun-bleached Hawaiian beach house where the Matthew Good Band, masked in oversized monkey heads, delivers a frenetic performance amid flickering neon lights. Intercut are scenes of two strippers who provocatively dance around digital cameras, lending a DIY, guerrilla-style energy. Subliminal text flashes across the screen, sometimes legible, sometimes distorted, undercutting the sunny backdrop with a sense of creeping paranoia. The clip closes on a shot of a phone number scrawled in chalk, hinting at a direct line to Good’s fan voicemail.

Filming actually took place in Hawaii. Matthew Good, Bill Morrisson, and two dancers (credited as strippers) had flown over with two consumer-grade digital cameras. The phone number, 1-888-999-8934, actually did function at the time and lead to Good's fan voicemail.

While The Future Is X-Rated didn’t match its predecessors’ chart-topping runs on MuchMusic, it became a cult favorite for its subversive imagery and low-fi charm, frequently cited by fans as one of the Matthew Good Band’s most visually daring videos.

Hidden Messages

• "The new information is misinformation"
• "We've run out of beer... time to shoot some guns"
• "Outlined in chalk everyone looks the same"
• "Beautiful innocent monsters live here"
• "Stop thinking about today and start dreaming about tomorrow"
• "The further you go, the longer it takes to get back"
• "You glow in the dark"
• "Read your manual"
• "Your vote doesn't count - we've already bought the candidates"
• "You are easily led, You are not to blame - blame is for people who need an excuse to be pissed off"
• "Corporations are people too"
• "You like this, don't you? PIGGY"
• "I hear Matt Good's a real asshole"
• "I try, but I just can't stop myself"
• "Ooooops... I did it again"
• "Politics have nothing to do with correction"
• "I am just a pirate sailing the seas in search of booty"
• "The world is not enough, let's take the solar system too!"
• "Only you can give others the impression that you're an idiot"
• "No Pain No Gain"
• "Yes, I am part of the problem"
• "Right now you're wishing you were me"
• "Call: 1-888-999-8934"