Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan was so rarely sober that the band's tour manager, Joey Cashman, would typically order him to stay outside a hotel while he checked in "so we could at least get a room before anyone saw him."

The ruse usually worked. On one occasion, however, as Cashman was speaking with the receptionist, the front doors opened and MacGowan entered -- with his arms slung around the shoulders of two other men and, Cashman recalled, "his trousers down around his knees, and no underwear..."

Quickly recovering from his momentary shock, Cashman turned to the receptionist and posed a question: "What kind of hotel is this!?" He then got a deal from the embarrassed clerk and the band promptly bedded down for the night.

[One day on tour, Cashman was asked to name the worst job he had ever had. His reply? "Pogues tour manager."]