Courtney's Latest Hit: Assault Trial

Courtney Love's biggest hit in years could land her before a jury.

Just as things were looking up for the rocker (she is currently on tour), Love has been ordered to stand trial for felony assault.

A Los Angeles court commissioner made the ruling after spending the better part of Wednesday listening to testimony from musician Kristin King at a preliminary hearing.

During Wednesday's prelim, King regaled Superior Court Commissioner Sanjay T. Kumar with stories of how Love threw a whiskey bottle at King's head, pulled her hair, sat on her, scratched her, pinched her breast, slapped her across the mouth and chipped her tooth during an April altercation at the home of Jim Barber. Barber is Love's ex-manager and ex-boyfriend; King also dated him.

Love, King said, per City News Service, "picked up a [Johnnie Walker] Red Label bottle of whiskey and dumped it all over me...She threw the bottle at the left side of my face. She picked up a big candle that was lit and threw it at the back of my head."

The irate rocker allegedly dug her nails into King's arm, leaving a scar, and grabbed King's boob--"the worst pinch I ever had," the woman testified.

"I was like, 'Get off me,' and she slapped me across the mouth," King said, adding that Love was "very aggressive, angry, just vicious, erratic."

King eventually escaped the purportedly rampaging rocker and alerted police via cell phone.

A neighbor, Marilyn Corre, then testified that Love went after King with a large flashlight.

Love's lawyer, Howard Weitzman, suggested that King might have been drunk and that Love was "grossly overcharged," but Kumar had heard enough and ordered Kurt Cobain's widow back to court Nov. 10 for a formal arraignment hearing.

"There is uncontroverted evidence that without provocation the defendant threw a bottle at the victim and chased her with a flashlight," Kumar said.

Unsurprisingly, Love has disagreed with King's accusations and doesn't seem to think the occasional catfight is such a big deal. The 40-year-old singer pleaded not guilty to the charge in August--telling reporters afterward, "I just want to play music, and being in that court and having a judge say, 'The state of California versus me,' it's just scary."

Love remains free on $150,000 bond.

Her alleged beatdown of King took place Apr. 25 at Barber's Los Angeles home--known to Courtney fans as the same place where she had her infamous window-smashing spree on his front lawn in October 2003.

That incident touched off months of bad behavior that left her with lengthy rap sheets on both coasts and her music comeback in shambles. In recent weeks Love has been trying to clean up her image, while attempting to eke out a career between court dates.

The former Hole frontwoman just managed to clear up a microphone-tossing assault case against her in New York by pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge last week. Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Melissa Jackson granted Love a conditional discharge, as long as she promised to pay $2,336 to cover the victim's medical bills and stay sober.

The America's Sweetheart singer has reportedly been clean for several weeks now. She was ordered to 18 months of rehab in July after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor count stemming from her cocaine-fueled meltdown outside Barber's house.

This week, Love finally has her act back on the road for a series of West Coast tour dates. Her shows so far have received mostly positive reviews, and Love has even taken a monthlong side gig as a deejay at L.A's Indie 103.1 FM. Love, who was in court for the prelim, was scheduled to fly to San Francisco for a show later Wednesday. She is also booked to play a Halloween concert with the Suicide Girls Saturday in Los Angeles' Wiltern Theater.

Still, Love has a couple big dates on her docket. Aside from her pending trial for allegedly bludgeoning King, the rocker also must stand trial Nov. 3 on two felony counts of illegal possession of painkillers stemming from an alleged overdose that took place in front of her daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, hours after Love's arrest at Barber's in October 2003. Love has pleaded innocent to the charges.

After that, she will continue fighting for custody of Frances Bean, who was removed from Love's care following that 2003 incident.

She will also need to straighten out her finances. Love is also facing several liens filed against her: Two liens placed by her Manhattan condo board, charging that she owes maintenance fees of approximately $25,000, and one by the state of California for $38,000 in back taxes. She's also been sued by a travel agency that claims she owes some $50,000 in unpaid travel expenses and by Hole's former lawyers, who say she still owes them money.