Perhaps the most famous concert riders of them all are the ones in which Van Halen famously stipulated that brown M&M’s were to be banished from the band’s dressing room.
Feast your eyes on this cool infographic based on the actual 1982 Van Halen World Tour rider, below. The rider contains items such as “Schlitz Malt Liquor beer (16 ounce cans)”, “One (1) large tube KY Jelly” and in the rider’s “Munchies” section, “M&M’s (WARNING: ABSOLUTELY NO BROWN ONES).”
While the M&Ms rider entry has often been described as an example of rock excess, the outlandish demand of rock stars, the group has said the M&M provision was included to make sure that promoters had actually read its lengthy rider. If brown M&M’s were in the backstage candy bowl, Van Halen surmised that more important aspects of a performance–lighting, staging, security, ticketing–may have been botched by an inattentive promoter.
Related “No Brown M&Ms” Stories:
Video: David Lee Roth explains the “No brown M&Ms” stipulation