I read in a blog that the video for “D.A.N.C.E.’ was actually a visual love letter from SoMe to the lolita he kept in a pit in his basement. [Note: SoMe does not keep young women in his basement, nor does he have a death pit in his house.]

BUT SRSLY…if ever there was a time to wear Child Predator glasses… Thnx a lot Ed Banger.

[Photos by The Cobrasnake]
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“HRO, they are just having a good time. There’s nothing wrong with being around young fans who like your music and identify with your lifestyle brand. You are insinuating that they are child predators, when they are just a couple of French men living their dreams. Deep down, we all want to be adored by seas of children; this is why Steve Aoki crowd surfs 300% more often in 3rd world countries.”
-an informed commenter who studied ‘The Psychology of Alt Celebs’ in College

According to wikipedia:

A lifestyle brand embodies the values and aspirations of a group or culture.
A successful lifestyle brand speaks to the core identity of its customers. Individuals each have their own sense of self, based on their background (e.g. ethnicity, social class, subculture, nationality, etc.). A lifestyle brand provides a powerful supplement to this core identity, by allowing the individual to publicly associate themselves with the brand. 

Alternative lifestyle brands are the present and the future of the arts & entertainment industry. Bands will no longer be bands; they will be lifestyle brands. Designers are lifestyle brands. Films must exists as lifestyle brands. Blogs and Websites are lifestyle brands. Humans will be lifestyle brands.

In order to be a lifestyle brand, you must do any combination of the following:

• Make Music
• Make T-Shirts
• Make totebags
• Have an e-commerce website
• Have ‘inventory’ of something cool within your apartment
• Participate in yardsales/own a vehicle from which you sell your goods from
• You have hired your best friend as a ‘designer’
• Have placed an ordered in bulk quantities from American Apparel
• Have a myspace page with 500+ friends
• Have exchanged emails with another ‘lifestyle brand’ about collaborating to make a cross-brander product
• Have a logo
• Have a website with over 100 images
• Have an internship program
• Have executed a ‘guerilla’ and or ‘viral’ marketing campaign
• Have been blurbed in an alternative magazine or blog
• Other crap that I’m sure people will cmmnt about

The best part about being a ‘lifestyle brand’ is that you are really easy to blurb about in alternative magazines that people may or may not read/take seriously. You supply writers with multiple ‘talking points’ that they can reference in blurb-style mentions. For example, HEARTSREVOLUTION.

Part of being a lifestyle brand means you don’t have to know what the hell you are talking about. Here is an interview with some people who work in an ice cream truck.

Lifestyle brands are the only way to reach alternative markets. If you are a band or a business, and your audience is not willing to let you steer their identity, then you should not exist. We should all strive to be lifestyle brands, and take over the psyches of your friends, family, and any one who ever encounters you. When other people see you, they should say, “I wish that person made a t-shirt that I could wear so that other people would know that I associate with him/her.”

For example, these kids love the Ed Banger Lifestyle Brand.

Should bands stop being ‘bands’ and start being ‘lifestyle brands’?
Do you know any one with a startup lifestyle brand that deserves to be blurbed about on HRO?
When will HRO officially be a lifestyle brand?

XX BONUS LIFESTYLE BRAND COVERAGE XX
A few of my favourite lifestyle brands:

• Communist China
• Nike
• Michael Jordan
• Pedro Winter/Tommy Banghalty
• Supreme
• McDonalds 50 Piece McNuggets
• Pizza Hut ‘Book It’ Program
• Broken Social Scene
• Erlend Oye
• Apple Computers
• Google
• Wal Mart
• Rickrolling

What are your favourite and least favourite lifestyle brands?