On This Day In 1978, NO Brown M&M's For Van Halen

On this day in 1978, Van Halen kicked off their first tour at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom. The group’s standard concert contract called for them to be provided with a bowl of M&Ms backstage, but with the provision that all the brown ones must be removed. And indeed, a copy of a contract rider from Van Halen’s 1982 world tour, under the “Munchies” section, does document that the band specified they be provided with “M&M’s (WARNING: ABSOLUTELY NO BROWN ONES)”. You can see the contract image above. This was a very smart way to see if promoters were actually reading the band's contract/rider. David Lee Roth said "If I came backstage, having been one of the architects of this lighting and staging design, and I saw brown M&Ms on the catering table, then I guarantee the promoter had not read the contract rider, and we would have to do a serious line check" of the entire stage setup.