A decades-old\u00a0candy variant and a storied piece of rock ‘n’ roll lore will reportedly disappear in one fell swoop later this summer.<\/p>\n
M&M’s maker Mars will commemorate the product’s 85th anniversary by relaunching the candy\u00a0in August without artificial dyes,\u00a0The Wall Street Journal<\/a> reports. But the switch to natural coloring will come at a price, as brown and blue M&M’s will reportedly be removed from the lineup.<\/p>\n While\u00a0Mars was able to recreate red and yellow dye with natural sources such as beets and turmeric, blue and brown proved much more difficult and costly to replicate. It can be done with spirulina extract, a blue-green algae and “superfood” that can cost anywhere from $20 per pound in its raw form to $100 per pound in its concentrated form (which is most often used for food dyes), according to Fox Business<\/a>.<\/p>\n READ MORE: 101 Hilarious Rock Tour Rider Requests<\/a><\/p>\n Compare that to the roughly $10 per pound\u00a0cost of turmeric, and it’s easy to see how brown and blue M&M’s quickly become cost-prohibitive. Spirulina has also caused clogging in the M&M’s factory spray nozzles, further complicating Mars’ attempts to\u00a0comply with the Make America Healthy Again agenda.<\/p>\n How Van Halen Turned\u00a0Brown M&M’s\u00a0Into Rock ‘n’ Roll Legend<\/p>\n While some candy enthusiasts\u00a0may balk at the\u00a0reduced M&M’s color lineup,\u00a0the change would have come as a great relief for\u00a0one legendary rock band at the heights of its powers (or at least the promoters who worked with them): Van Halen<\/a>.<\/p>\n The rockers’ tour rider famously\u00a0called for bowls of M&M’s to be provided backstage, but with all the brown pieces removed. This was not a case of simple rock star megalomania or superstition, but a test to confirm promoters had read their contract closely and could assure a safe stage setup.<\/p>\n READ MORE: All 75 David Lee Roth-Era Van Halen Songs Ranked Worst to Best<\/a><\/p>\n