Hands down, this has always been the best story of Quality Assurance and monitoring I’ve ever heard.

The general background: in the 1980s, the David Lee Roth-fronted Van Halen had a reputation for rock star excess. Think the broad stereotypes of trashing hotel rooms, making outrageous demands, et cetera, et cetera. They also put on a hell of a show.

As part of that show, there were pages of pages of technical requirements in the rider to make sure that all specification were in place for things to go off safely. So, right in the middle of this, David Lee Roth inserted a clause that said, “there will be no brown m&m’s backstage on penalty of forfeiture.” If he went in the dressing room and saw brown M&Ms, it was a guarantee that the rider had not been carefully read, and a full check would need to be made.

But here, listen to the man himself tell it. It’s mildly NSFW.