This Goes To 11: Spinal Tap Movie Trivia

Influence: Van Halen

Remember the backstage scene where Nigel throws a fit over the “miniature bread” provided by catering services? It turns out that scene was based on the diva-like backstage requests Van Halen was notorious for – most notably the demand that all brown M&M’s must be removed from their backstage areas.

In the Spinal Tap version, Tufnel is beside himself over the small brown bread provided in the deli tray. “Look… this, this miniature bread. It’s like… I’ve been working with this now for about half an hour. I can’t figure it out. Let’s say I want a bite, right, you’ve got this…” and he shows his manager the bread. After multiple attempts to fold the bread over some cold cuts, Tufnel eventually hurls the offending bite and exclaims “I want large bread!” in disgust.

There’s a really good reason for the M&M ban, it turns out. More about that later…