Journalist Ezra Klein once wrote about what he called the Van Halen Principle, which is "Tales of someone doing something unbelievably stupid or selfish or irrational are often stories that you don't yet understand." The story behind it is fascinating.

Van Halen was one of the top touring acts of the eighties. They, like all bands, would send out 'contract riders' to local organizers which included all the things that the group wanted.

Van Halen's list was legendary and included 12 fresh lemons with a knife, four cases of Schlitz malts and M&M chocolates, but absolutely no brown ones.

People though that this was just another example of crazy rock star demands, but they had a very sound reason. Lead singer David Lee Roth explained that Van Halen had one of the most complicated and elaborate stage set ups which required huge attention to detail.

If they came and checked and found brown M&Ms in the jar, they knew the organizers were careless and they would have to do a much more elaborate stage check.
So yes, there was a meaning behind that crazy sounding M & M demand