The concert rider of the rock band Van Halen for its 1982 world tour included the line: “M&M’s (WARNING: ABSOLUTELY NO BROWN ONES).” In his 1997 memoir, the singer David Lee Roth recalled the clause as: “There will be no brown M&M’s in the backstage area, upon pain of forfeiture of the show, with full compensation.”
Roth explained the reason. The rider contained detailed technical and safety requirements, and the candy clause showed whether the venue had read them. If he found brown M&M’s, he wrote, “Guaranteed you’re going to arrive at a technical error. They didn’t read the contract.”