Van Halen's M&M fetish is confirmed!

Remember the urban legend about how hard-rocking Van Halen demanded all brown M&Ms be removed from their backstage spreads during the '80s? Well, some 25 years later, it's finally confirmed.

The Smoking Gun, which admits to having searched for verification for 10 years now, finally got its hands on a Van Halen backstage rider from 1982. Sure enough, there's a "no brown M&M" clause in there. Click here to see the full document.

Among the other interesting demands:

• The band specified exactly which vegetables it wanted any given day. Brussels sprouts and spinach on even days; peas and green beans on odd days.
• Plenty of Tab diet cola and lime-flavored Gatorade.
• As for alcohol: Schlitz Malt Liquor, Jack Daniels bourbon, Stolichnaya vodka and Blue Nun white wine.
• Even more bizarre: Herring in sour cream for deli trays ... and one large tub of KY jelly.

If you haven't checked out TSG's full list of riders from '80s artists, you're missing out. They ones for Men At Work (no Vegemite!), Billy Idol (he likes I Can't Believe It's Not Butter), U2 (Rolling Rock in bottles only), Def Leppard (no eggs!),   Billy Joel (no recliners) and more.

Comments

[Clark]

The rider that TSG has for Iggy Pop is one of the funniest things you will ever find on the internet.

[surtdog]

anyone know what the backstage demands from craft service might
be for GWAR?
or the genitorturers?

thats a list i'd like to see

gwar......GWAR!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWRKlNlRsgI
2nd Genitorturer's

Nuff Said

Posted by: surfdog | December 13, 2008 at 01:22 AM

[Kevy Metal]

This story reminds me of the Spinal Tap rider demand that the filling be removed from Oreos.

[CHAD]

this was actually confirmed over ten years ago in roth's book, crazy from the heat. he said they would put these demands in their contracts to see if the promoters read the contracts. if they found the brown m & m's, then it could be assumed that other specifics also wasn't gonna be followed. things such as, the floors capacity to hold their stage and lightning. supposedely, at the time most bands toured with three to five trucks of equipment. van halen toured with up to eightteen trucks. i think they played a place where they found brown m & m's, and the floor fell during their peformance, because it couldn't hold the stage.