By: Michael Francisco & Keith Miller

2 Feb. 2003 Truthless Heroes: Christian? The message of the new album by Project 86 deserves a closer evaluation

Truthless Heroes is not a Christian album and its songs should not be played on Christian radio stations. The band exhibits stellar musical talent, but fails to provide a message through their lyrics and website even compatible with Christianity. The album's website offers myriad evidences that the band's influences are at odds with Christianity. Though Project 86 is attempting to make cultural criticisms, the associated website demonstrates their lack of Christian discernment in pursuing this end.

Questionable influences aside, we must first direct your attention to the gravest threat posed by continued support for Project 86. The album's website, www.truthlessheroes.com, contains this semi-pornographic page (explicit content). We understand that this page is intended as criticism of America's objectification of sex, but the content is so disturbing that it should not be part of any Christian's method of critique. Even if this page did not exist, we believe that Project 86's influences and worldview are not Christian in nature. The remainder of this article is an effort to establish that claim.

Therefore, in light of statements made by their front-man, Andrew Schwab, and design decisions on their website, we believe that Project 86 has acted in an un-Christian fashion. These offenses must be redressed. Although they formerly had a contract with Tooth-and-Nail, a record label commonly considered Christian, we suggest that Christian radio stations to stop promoting their songs and for customers to carefully consider a purchase of their music, treating them as any other secular band. If you, as a Christian, feel called to reject non-Christian music, we believe you should exclude Project 86 just as you would Nirvana and Nine Inch Nails. Additionally, Christian radio stations, purportedly spreading the gospel of Christ through their music, should carefully guard their airways and stop playing Project 86 songs.

What Should Christian Music Be?
As we begin on our evaluation of this group we want to make one point clear: we like rock music and we love Christian Rock. We are familiar with the type of anti-beat bigotry lampooned in Audio Adrenaline's "The Houseplant Song," and want to reassure our readers that this is not the origin of our complaint. Keith was named for early Christian rocker Keith Green and has followed artists from Steve Taylor to Stavesacre. Michael is a skanking, head-banging punk fan as well. We wanted to like the album for we both want the Christian Rock genre to continue to flourish

It is a terrible shame and yet a horrible truth that many bands which are musically brilliant are lyrically depraved. This is true of many of the great secular rock bands, and perhaps of some Christian rock bands. Project 86 is one of those musically great bands where you listen and say, "Wow, these guys have talent." A case in point, after hearing one of their new tracks on the radio entitled "Hollow Again," Michael was so impressed that he ordered Truthless Heroes over the 'net - the very same day. We have listened to them many times since that day, and our opinion remains the same: Project 86 Rocks. They rock harder than nearly all of their predecessors in the Christian Rock scene.

Nevertheless, we think that the music of Project 86 should not be considered Christian music. This is because their songs, especially on their newest album, do not bear any true Christian message. We think it is a fair expectation that a "Christian" band have at least a veiled Christian message in their music.

Truthless Heroes: What is the concept?
The two of us have enjoyed Project 86's music since the release of their second album, Drawing Black Lines. Although geared for MTV and laden with some catchy choruses in "Me Against Me" and "One Armed Man (Play On)," this album failed to allow Project to duplicate the general market success garnered by P.O.D. Though Truthless Heroes does take Project to that next level musically, as discerning Christian music fans we also examined its lyrical content. Andrew Schwab, the frontman, lyricist, and vocalist for Project, drew special attention to the lyrics of Truthless Heroes, by touting it as a "concept album." Schwab called the work a

thirteen-song story about a character, ignored, [who] channels the self-loathing into pursuing greatness. The album takes you through his attempts to gratify himself and fulfill his deepest needs as a person through fame, fortune, lust... whatever. (interactive CD interview)

Some Christian reviews of the album, such as the CCM Magazine, have suggested that the redeeming part of this work is that "Project 86 suggests hope and grace by revealing their absence in a world that chooses anesthetics over consciousness, consumerism over the search for truth." If this were the agenda advanced by Truthless Heroes, the album would have worthy aspirations, but the criticisms actually offered do not line up with Christianity, as the CCM reviewer claims.

The primary problem with this interpretation is that Project 86 never refers to the "hope and grace" available through the cross. Even beyond the lyrics, their interactive CD interview, band website, and album website are uniformly silent on the subject which should be central to the Christian faith. If we extend the logic of the CCM review it would seem that anyone who curses the darkness is Christian. Such a view must be doubted, for this categorization would include anti-Christian bands like Rage Against the Machine within the scope of Christian music.

After some extensive research it became increasingly clear that Project 86 has bought into many popular counter-cultural critiques and have even been influenced by the secular philosophy of postmodernism. Truthless Heroes is much more a piece of counter-cultural criticism than Christian musical effort.

Project 86's Influences and Agenda: A Closer Look
Andrew Schwab has made the job of analyzing his work easier by promoting some of his influences in the "behind the scenes" video, which is included on the enhanced CD. Schwab mentions two authors and several books: Chris Bachelder's Bear v. Shark and Don Delliano's White Noise, along with "various works by Huxley and Orwell." Anyone can find out about these books, as we did, and will discover that White Noise is considered a postmodern classic (it has a Norton Critical Edition for this reason) and Bear v. Shark criticizes the entertainment culture of America. Schwab makes it clear in his CD interview that these books were of primary influence in his lyrics: "I try to, at least with literature, draw social commentary that can be applied to the music that we write." We were suspicious of the concept album content when we found that these two postmodern books were Schwab's primary influences, whereas he failed to mention any Christian influences.

Our suspicions turned to outright disgust after a visit to the www.truthlessheroes.com website. The band put up this site in an effort to further the cause of the album. In fact, the little "advertisements" on the album tell you to "go to truthlessheroes.com." Therefore, this content should be included as part of the message that Project 86 is spreading to the world.

The site opens with several small icons, most of which link to a site where you can buy their album. But two of the links are much more subversive. The above mentioned critique of the objectification of women is listed under "fashion." This site is obscene (arguably pornographic) and should not be contained on any Christian's website. Personally, we both feel scarred by the fact that we have seen these images, the very images created by Project 86.

The other link goes to a page of links entitled "911 DIG DEEP" that is less graphic, yet contains ideas of comparable evil. After spending some time searching around we determined that our computer's IP address may now be registered in the FBI database due to the clearly subversive sites to which Project 86 has linked. The ideas promoted are anti-government, anti-war, anti-media, and anti-consumerism in a way very similar to Rage Against the Machine. We do not think that the government, media, military and ad culture are always above reproach, but the methods Project uses in that criticism are errant.

Governmental Conspiracies
In summation, the "911 DIG DEEP" page is highly anti-government, mounting numerous unfounded attacks on public leaders such as President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, John Ashcroft, and others. Anyone who believes a Christian is called to respect government officials clearly cannot agree with these sites. A harsh criticism of the Bush administration is the most prominent anti-government theme to the links We're not talking about measured criticisms of his policy choices, or reasoned opinions about government practices; we are talking about disrespectful, conspiracy-laden criticism. Many pages about the 9/11 tragedy claim that the U.S. Government knew about the attack ahead of time, and even profited off of it by selling stock before the event. One page even claims that the Israelis were behind the terrorism activity.

A Corroborating News Media
The second assertion, made by many of these Project 86-endorsed links, is that the big media is the tool of the government, covering up the "real truth." There are numerous links to "guerrilla news" agencies, who fight the propaganda they claim is delivered to us by CNN, Fox News, The New York Times, etc. These sites make outrageous claims about the news media being one vast conspiracy to indoctrinate the American population. Several sites claimed that the US government works with the media-in an unknown conspiracy—to deliver news that will indoctrinate the American people to favor war. Anyone who has watched CNN or read the New York Times should be able to discount these websites.

The Dangers of Advertising and "Consumerism"
Also linked from truthlessheroes.com are several anti-business sites that ring of Marxist ideology. There are good criticisms of the consumer mentality of America, but these websites are completely off the deep end when it comes to economics. One link on the site advocates such activity as "Buy Nothing Day." Another site advocates the illegal defacement of billboards, because of the 'destructive presence' of the ads. This is a form of terrorism. That site claims, "through the Ad and the intent of the Advertiser we form our ideas and learn the myths that make us into what we are as a people." While this may be true to a certain extent, it does not justify lawlessness.

The Un-just War on Terrorism
Many pages charge that the "Military Industrial Complex" is driving the current war against terrorism, in essence, claiming that Bush and the US Government are insincere in pursuing the terrorists of Al-Queda. Several pages criticize our actions in Afghanistan, claiming that we slaughtered innocents for no reason at all. The Project 86 links shift the blame for 9/11 to an outlandish conspiracy about the government seeking war for the personal profit of their buddies in the bomb-making industry. Though this critique is absurd, the way that these sites make their arguments goes even further to damage any link to Christianity. One website produces "randomly generated military operations names" such as "Operation Nuclear-Tipped Jesus." We tried the generator many times, and frequently came up with blatantly insulting operation names that defamed the name of Christ. Another site included a picture that was mildly pornographic, involving 60 nude women posing in a field to spell 'No War' with their bodies.

How should Christians respond?
Overall, we find the websites linked on www.truthlessheroes.com to contain objectionable material, both visual and intellectual, which have not place within a Christian worldview. The fact that Truthless Heroes argues against the darkness in our culture does not make this a Christian critique. In the end, Project 86 does not offer Christian hope, and their criticisms have more in common with Rage Against the Machine than C.S. Lewis. As thoughtful Christians, we find it impossible to defend the new Project 86 album as a Christian work of art.

To defend the Project 86 album as Christian, one must do more than claim that the criticisms made by the album are legitimate. The answer offered must have some contact with the Christian way of salvation, not merely a bunch of postmodern, relativist, conspiratorial and angst-filled websites.

The Christian music industry and Christian music listeners need to be more discerning in their selection of Christian artists. Christian radio stations should examine the content of the artists they play, for, as this example proves, residence on a Christian label like Tooth-and-Nail does not ensure a Christian worldview. We hope that Project 86 returns to their Christian roots, but until then, we must act in a way consistent with our beliefs.

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NEW! A new detailed analysis of Project 86 addressing the concerns and feeback from this article.