Serious Eats
Van Halen Tour Rider: Absolutely No Brown M&Ms
The Smoking Gun has unearthed a copy of an infamous 1982 Van Halen world tour rider. As the site explains, it's like the Holy Grail of tour riders, in that the brown M&M ban had heretofore been hearsay. Now there's proof.
Along with the M&M stipulation:
- Herring in sour cream
- Four cases Schlitz malt liquor beer (16 ounce cans)
- A total of eight bottles of wine and liquor
- One (1) case Country Time lemonade
- M&M's (WARNING: ABSOLUTELY NO BROWN ONES)
According to the Smoking Gun, "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."
If you're interested, here are breakfast, lunch ("assorted sandwiches [minimum of 44], ie., BLT, chicken, turkey [fresh, not pressed]"), and dinner requirements. Pretty standard fare.
