R.E.M. used to be my favourite band in the world EVER, and they still rate pretty high up there. This story, torn from the pages of Yahoo! News just makes me love them even more...

Drunken rock star assaulted aircraft crew, court told

REM star Peter Buck turned into a "paralytic Mr Hyde" and assaulted British Airways cabin staff after downing 15 glasses of wine on a transatlantic flight, a court has heard.
The 44-year-old guitarist's allegedly appalling behaviour saw him repeatedly reeling along the aisles.

At Isleworth Crown Court in London Buck denies being drunk on an aircraft, common assault and damaging BA crockery.

The court heard he became stuck between two seats before he was pulled free, while he also managed to cover himself and the cabin services manager with a tub full of sticky yoghurt.

When the captain finally presented him with a "yellow card" and warned him the Seattle to Heathrow flight might be diverted, he promptly tore it up.

Edward Lewis, prosecuting, said Buck mistook the hostess trolley for a CD player as he drunkenly tried to insert a disc into it and also overturned the trolley, sending a pile of crockery, honey, cereals and milk flying across the floor.

When he was once more asked to sit down, the musician allegedly announced: "I am REM and I can make up a story that I was assaulted."

Finally, said Mr Lewis, members of his entourage managed to calm him down and "to everyone's relief he fell asleep".

Describing the rock star as "paralytic" during the flight, Mr Lewis said: "He became the transmogrification of Dr Jekyll into Mr Hyde."

Buck denies being drunk on an aircraft last April, two counts of common assault involving cabin services manager Mario Agius and stewardess Holly Ward, and one charge of damaging British Airways crockery. The case continues.