Audacious. Aggravating. Arrogant. That’s what some venue promoters thought about Van Halen in 1982. They hadn’t yet reached the peak of commercial success, but they were having the time of their lives living like rock stars, and they had the success to back it up. They were already selling out enormous venues, and this was still two years before
This is very similar to what I used to do, while in the Army, to make sure the soldiers would follow their preventative maintenance checks. It works great!
Awesome story! In a similar vein, I once read Thomas Edison (?) used to take prospective employees for lunch and always asked for supper. If they added salt without tasting the supper first, he would know they were the kind of engineer who makes unnecessary assumptions instead of thoroughly testing.
If I were the supporting artists on the VH tour, say, I'd include a rider in MY contract that said "Nothing BUT brown M&Ms, thankyouverymuch!" VH still get their little candy test, and I get candy in a shade it'd never occur to me to otherwise ask.....AND THERE HAD BETTER NOT BE A HINT OF YELLOW OR RED! Or, I'd insist the promoter or venue operator ensure the brown ones get to a children's hospital, or simply a nearby school.
Wonderful story and post. Thank you for sharing it with us. One of the things I miss alot are infact M&Ms! I wasn't allergic to dairy at a younger age and LOVED them!! Today.... well..... I can sing Memory from the musical Cats. Does that count!? LOLOL I have a story to tell you. Your post made me think of it. I don't know if this could be called audacious or not...you tell me. In 2003 I had surgery for Epilepsy and woke up with my left side temp. paralysed. Due to that, I had to relearn to walk, talk, eat, etc. Oddly enough when in my wheelchair in rehab. I looked around at the other patients. Some had suffered from strokes, some didn't have arms, etc. they looked REALLY SAD! I wanted to cheer them, so I sang "I whistle a happy tune" from "The King and I" because it always cheered me up. EVERY word in the lyrics came back perfectly. It was HUGELY odd! It was aggravating to some at first but they eventually began to warm up to me and didn't want me to leave when it was time for me to go home. Completely different topic and I'm not so sure if it fits the definition of all the words shared but for some reason your post made me think of it. I hope it's alright that I shared that. Anyway thanks for the memories and smiles. M&Ms bring back alot of good memories and certainly make me smile. :)
Angela, that's an incredible story! It sounds like you brought a little bit of light in there with you. I don't know if it's the same thing VH did with their contract, but it's a really good tale, and you lived through it first hand!
Thanks!! I didn’t think it was the same thing either. It just made me think of that for some reason? What was thought would be the hardest time of my life and ruin it, ended up helping me to understand, etc. in alot of ways. Maybe it was meant to be. I’m also HUGELY different today than I was at that time. Although, I think everyone changes to an extent as they age, don’t they? It is easier to read, then to live through. You can also check out this video of me years ago talking about it but please note everyone in my life is HUGELY HUGELY different today. I also nolonger go to this event, due to MANY reasons but here it is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZptPQEgdiM You have to be VERY hardheaded and like repetitive behaviour. In situations like mine. I connected some of the words you mentioned to it.
There is typically proper, sane reasoning behind these kind of concerns. The trouble is that many, particularly those in the media, do not attempt to undertake the research necessary to find the reasoning, and therefore present it incorrectly as a trivial thing.
Remember how there used to be two different shades of brown M&Ms, the chocolate brown color and also the light brown? I wanna say that was the 80s and/or early 90s. Anyway thinking of those, I also remember some Jennifer Lopez movie (either the Wedding Planner or Maid in Manhattan, not sure which) where her character would only eat the brown ones, because chocolate is already brown, so those were the only ones without artifical colors.
This story is one of my all time favourites ,though until now ,I always considered it to be fictional. Many will recall the roadie Dale Preston recounting the Brown M+Ms story in Wayne's World 2 and attributing it to Ozzy Osborne. The Benagal tiger was another matter entirely. Thanks for this one Andrew
" If they screw up brown M and M's they're more likely to mess up the stage set-up " is seen, by many, to be a revisionist spin by the band on their prima donna demands. A caterer is not an electrician- quite the leap to go from a low hanging dietary demand not being met to the inherent safety of the build. Loved this article and the comments above - heard the original laughter at the 1980s demands - wasn't aware that there was a business strategy/safety spin to it nowadays.
I am interested in the revisionist angle! Have you read any particularly compelling sources for this, or is it just the accumulation over the years? In other words, can I research this?
No - it's "he said, he said". The ( alleged ) diva angle came out; then the " we're so smart ( thorough?), look how we micro manage" . I keep wondering when this " issue" first arose in the media and then wonder " - wouldn't the next venue / local team be aware of the issue? If " the answer " is out there ( you screwed up the candy and that makes me worry about the whole production ) - -- isn't the test useless? Or, I suppose the test is brilliant because once the li k is made ---all ahead are on best behavior. Snopes is neutral (" mixture" of true and false ).
I remember when that story broke, and you're right....I don't recall reading about the underlying safety reason for it; just the arrogance of the band on display! If they said it, then, I don't recall, and I'm like the general public the press knew we'd want to hear and presume the worst!
It's much easier to just paint a rockstar with a broad brush, right? I can only imagine how many times you've seen this over the decades! I've seen it more than enough myself.
When Eddie Van Halen collaborated with Michael Jackson on "Beat It", I'm sure Jackson obeyed the clause by not having brown M&Ms in the bowl. Had Jackson disobeyed, we may not have one of the greatest lead solos in music, still scintillating after so many years.
Good bureaucracy works like the brown m&ms. It weeds out corruption by specifically asking crucial but seemingly innocuous questions about what you want to do, why, how, who for, who with, etcetera until the opportunities for fraud, waste and/or abuse are pretty much all smashed flat (or, if you manage to get through all the hoops and still be corrupt, there’s an extensive paper trail).
I agree with this, and I think people who aren't fans of ANY bureaucracy completely miss this, just as people on the other extreme side of the fence miss the power of the free market to determine reasonably fair and efficient prices. Neither is perfect, but both have amazing benefits deeply embedded in their systems, and we would remove either at our peril.
Well, yes. Except for the ones who demand more, and have to do it for themselves to fulfill that demand. Which is why and how many non-fiction books and articles are written.
Would you consider Patagonia’s “Don’t buy this jacket,” Netflix's “Take as many vacations as you want as long as your work is covered,” Zappos’ “2K offer to quit”, etc. in the same category? They go against conventional wisdom at that time but turn out to be highly effective.
This is very similar to what I used to do, while in the Army, to make sure the soldiers would follow their preventative maintenance checks. It works great!
https://www.polymathicbeing.com/p/the-enemys-gate-is-down?utm_source=publication-search#:~:text=Case%20Study%203%3A%20Layered%20Accountability
Awesome story! In a similar vein, I once read Thomas Edison (?) used to take prospective employees for lunch and always asked for supper. If they added salt without tasting the supper first, he would know they were the kind of engineer who makes unnecessary assumptions instead of thoroughly testing.
Edison's brilliance never gets enough credit.
But what happened to all the brown M&Ms though?! Where did they end up? We need an investigative journalist on his case, now!
I would have put them into a jar of creamy peanut butter.
If I were the supporting artists on the VH tour, say, I'd include a rider in MY contract that said "Nothing BUT brown M&Ms, thankyouverymuch!" VH still get their little candy test, and I get candy in a shade it'd never occur to me to otherwise ask.....AND THERE HAD BETTER NOT BE A HINT OF YELLOW OR RED! Or, I'd insist the promoter or venue operator ensure the brown ones get to a children's hospital, or simply a nearby school.
If I were preparing the bowl, I would have eaten them. I don't have to wonder lol
Wonderful story and post. Thank you for sharing it with us. One of the things I miss alot are infact M&Ms! I wasn't allergic to dairy at a younger age and LOVED them!! Today.... well..... I can sing Memory from the musical Cats. Does that count!? LOLOL I have a story to tell you. Your post made me think of it. I don't know if this could be called audacious or not...you tell me. In 2003 I had surgery for Epilepsy and woke up with my left side temp. paralysed. Due to that, I had to relearn to walk, talk, eat, etc. Oddly enough when in my wheelchair in rehab. I looked around at the other patients. Some had suffered from strokes, some didn't have arms, etc. they looked REALLY SAD! I wanted to cheer them, so I sang "I whistle a happy tune" from "The King and I" because it always cheered me up. EVERY word in the lyrics came back perfectly. It was HUGELY odd! It was aggravating to some at first but they eventually began to warm up to me and didn't want me to leave when it was time for me to go home. Completely different topic and I'm not so sure if it fits the definition of all the words shared but for some reason your post made me think of it. I hope it's alright that I shared that. Anyway thanks for the memories and smiles. M&Ms bring back alot of good memories and certainly make me smile. :)
Angela, that's an incredible story! It sounds like you brought a little bit of light in there with you. I don't know if it's the same thing VH did with their contract, but it's a really good tale, and you lived through it first hand!
Thanks!! I didn’t think it was the same thing either. It just made me think of that for some reason? What was thought would be the hardest time of my life and ruin it, ended up helping me to understand, etc. in alot of ways. Maybe it was meant to be. I’m also HUGELY different today than I was at that time. Although, I think everyone changes to an extent as they age, don’t they? It is easier to read, then to live through. You can also check out this video of me years ago talking about it but please note everyone in my life is HUGELY HUGELY different today. I also nolonger go to this event, due to MANY reasons but here it is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZptPQEgdiM You have to be VERY hardheaded and like repetitive behaviour. In situations like mine. I connected some of the words you mentioned to it.
I am happy to have given us a good conversational kernel!
There is typically proper, sane reasoning behind these kind of concerns. The trouble is that many, particularly those in the media, do not attempt to undertake the research necessary to find the reasoning, and therefore present it incorrectly as a trivial thing.
And, one might argue that the media do this precisely because it's what we (the public) demand, by and large.
“He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.” Like 16:10
Remember how there used to be two different shades of brown M&Ms, the chocolate brown color and also the light brown? I wanna say that was the 80s and/or early 90s. Anyway thinking of those, I also remember some Jennifer Lopez movie (either the Wedding Planner or Maid in Manhattan, not sure which) where her character would only eat the brown ones, because chocolate is already brown, so those were the only ones without artifical colors.
Yes I do remember those 2 shades of brown! I had certainly blocked that out from my brain until just now, though. Also, LOL @ J-Lo's character!
This story is one of my all time favourites ,though until now ,I always considered it to be fictional. Many will recall the roadie Dale Preston recounting the Brown M+Ms story in Wayne's World 2 and attributing it to Ozzy Osborne. The Benagal tiger was another matter entirely. Thanks for this one Andrew
Oh wow, I had forgotten all about this being mentioned in Wayne's World II!
" If they screw up brown M and M's they're more likely to mess up the stage set-up " is seen, by many, to be a revisionist spin by the band on their prima donna demands. A caterer is not an electrician- quite the leap to go from a low hanging dietary demand not being met to the inherent safety of the build. Loved this article and the comments above - heard the original laughter at the 1980s demands - wasn't aware that there was a business strategy/safety spin to it nowadays.
I am interested in the revisionist angle! Have you read any particularly compelling sources for this, or is it just the accumulation over the years? In other words, can I research this?
No - it's "he said, he said". The ( alleged ) diva angle came out; then the " we're so smart ( thorough?), look how we micro manage" . I keep wondering when this " issue" first arose in the media and then wonder " - wouldn't the next venue / local team be aware of the issue? If " the answer " is out there ( you screwed up the candy and that makes me worry about the whole production ) - -- isn't the test useless? Or, I suppose the test is brilliant because once the li k is made ---all ahead are on best behavior. Snopes is neutral (" mixture" of true and false ).
My interest in this arose from an old newspaper article - woman wins $10,000 for reading fine print . Mmany examples- I read the actual paper edition...don't recall the company or prize...but this " one off" prize made sense ( to me). https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/03/07/woman-reads-fine-print-wins-10-000-insurance-company-contest/3091831002/
Now watch the latter story be false :)
I remember when that story broke, and you're right....I don't recall reading about the underlying safety reason for it; just the arrogance of the band on display! If they said it, then, I don't recall, and I'm like the general public the press knew we'd want to hear and presume the worst!
It's much easier to just paint a rockstar with a broad brush, right? I can only imagine how many times you've seen this over the decades! I've seen it more than enough myself.
When Eddie Van Halen collaborated with Michael Jackson on "Beat It", I'm sure Jackson obeyed the clause by not having brown M&Ms in the bowl. Had Jackson disobeyed, we may not have one of the greatest lead solos in music, still scintillating after so many years.
That really is a great guitar solo.
Good bureaucracy works like the brown m&ms. It weeds out corruption by specifically asking crucial but seemingly innocuous questions about what you want to do, why, how, who for, who with, etcetera until the opportunities for fraud, waste and/or abuse are pretty much all smashed flat (or, if you manage to get through all the hoops and still be corrupt, there’s an extensive paper trail).
I agree with this, and I think people who aren't fans of ANY bureaucracy completely miss this, just as people on the other extreme side of the fence miss the power of the free market to determine reasonably fair and efficient prices. Neither is perfect, but both have amazing benefits deeply embedded in their systems, and we would remove either at our peril.
Well, yes. Except for the ones who demand more, and have to do it for themselves to fulfill that demand. Which is why and how many non-fiction books and articles are written.
Would you consider Patagonia’s “Don’t buy this jacket,” Netflix's “Take as many vacations as you want as long as your work is covered,” Zappos’ “2K offer to quit”, etc. in the same category? They go against conventional wisdom at that time but turn out to be highly effective.
Yeah, although the Zappos thing is super smart. That's one of the things that caught my eye (ear?) about the company before Amazon gobbled them up.
Thanks! This is a really good one, keep up the good work! 🤗
Thanks, Thomas!
I remember this.
It now makes sense.