Back in the 1980s, Van Halen was the biggest band around. They were the epitome of a traditional American rock’n’roll band.

Each time they rolled into a new city for a performance, they bought with them nine 18-wheeler trucks filled with their stage and production. It was estimated the stage weighed the same as a Boeing 747.

It wasn’t just a big stage, but also a complex stage. It had lots of moving parts and things that could go wrong.

Van Halen asked for a lot of things, like many bands do, on their rider. They asked for a bowl of m&m’s with one specific proviso—there must not be any brown m&m’s.

When Van Halen would arrive at the venue for their rehearsals, they would go straight to the bowl of m&m’s and check whether there were any brown ones. If they saw a rogue brown m&m, they would immediately request a full review of the stage set-up, checking all the safety perimeters.

They figured that if the venue organisers didn’t follow their request for no brown m&m’s, they weren’t detail people. They may have missed something else.