Thanks to Twitter, I recently stumbled across an article on Snopes.com about Van Halen’s infamous “brown M&M clause” in their concert contracts. For decades, the story has circulated about the band’s insistence on having a bowl of M&Ms in the dressing room at every show, with “absolutely no brown ones.” The tale became a cliché – a textbook case of prima donna behaviour, or pointless extravagance.

I was familiar with the story and when I found it featured on Snopes with all the other urban legends, I expected to learn why it was untrue. Surprisingly, not only was the M&M clause real, it had a very specific purpose.

For a band that employed massive, technically complex stage shows, the brown M&M clause gave Van Halen and their management an instant spot-check on the level to which the show’s organizers had followed instructions. A single brown M&M could be a portent of sloppy wiring or other more serious problems with the show’s setup.

When I read this, it struck me as pure genius. Why?

At the time, I was up to my eyeballs in the minutiae of preparing a response to an RFP for a potential client. I was not feeling particularly charitable towards the authors of this RFP. The details, the complexity, the inconsistency! Where was it coming from? Were these convoluted requirements the product of sadism or incompetence?

Refreshed by a good laugh and a with a new favorite story tucked away, I found it a lot easier to dive back in to the writing process and pick out all the Brown M&Ms. Oh, it’s possible that the authors of the RFP were being prima donnas, but it’s more likely they were providing themselves with some easy spot checks.

Besides, who wants to lose a good gig just because of a technicality?

Thanks to City Lights Bookshop for providing me inspiration through distraction with their prolific and varied tweets!