While listening to This American Life yesterday I had my mind blown by the revelation that Van Halen’s request for “no brown m&ms” as part of their contract rider was not intended to assert their rockstar diva status, but to ensure their safety. Check out a discussion between Ira Glass and his guest, John Flansburgh (from the awesome, They Might Be Giants), on how brown m&ms signaled trouble for Van Halen in the first 6 minutes of this podcast:
At one point, Glass reads from David Lee Roth’s autobiography about the brown m&ms. You can read the transcript, and get even more background, here.