U.K. Haiti Benefit Single ‘Everybody Hurts’ Debuts At No. 1

Simon Cowell may not be the nicest man in the entertainment business, but there’s no denying that he is generous and willing to lend a hand to those in need.

Syco Music/Sony Music Entertainment’s charity cover of R.E.M.’s “Everybody Hurts,” which was released under the name Helping Haiti to raise funds for victims of the Haiti earthquake, topped the new U.K. singles chart at No. 1.

Helping Haiti sold 453,000 copies last week to become the U.K.’s fastest-selling charity single of this century.

Simon Cowell’s Haiti Charity Song Expected To Be Huge in The U.K.

A cover of R.E.M.’s 1992 classic “Everybody Hurts,” produced by Simon Cowell and re-recorded to help the victims of last month’s natural disaster in Haiti, is predicted to be a huge hit in the United Kingdom. It has even been said that it will most likely be Britain’s biggest-selling single in 10 years.

Stars that lent their voices to the single, include Kylie Minogue, Leona Lewis, Mariah Carey, Miley Cyrus, and Susan Boyle.

The track was released on Tuesday, but is expected to go platinum across the pond by the end of the week.

Musicians Unknowingly Involved In Guantanamo Torture

A coalition of artists outraged that music, including theirs, was cranked up to help break uncooperative detainees at Guantanamo Bay is joining retired military officers and liberal activists to rally support for President Barack Obama’s push to shutter the Navy-run prison for terrorist suspects in Cuba.

The music may have been used in controversial interrogation methods (aka torture) in which detainees are forced to listen music at extreme levels for hours on end.

Pearl Jam, R.E.M, and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails are among the musicians who have joined the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo, which launched Tuesday.

“At Guantanamo, the U.S. government turned a jukebox into an instrument of torture,” said Thomas Blanton, executive director of the archive, an independent, nongovernmental research institute.

Based on documents that already have been made public and interviews with former detainees, the archive says the playlist featured cuts from AC/DC, Britney Spears, the Bee Gees, Marilyn Manson and many other groups. The Meow mix cat food jingle, the Barney theme song and an assortment of Sesame Street tunes also were pumped into detainee cells.

“We have spent the past 30 years supporting causes related to peace and justice. To now learn that some of our friends’ music may have been used as part of the torture tactics without their consent or knowledge is horrific,” said R.E.M in a statement. “It’s anti-American, period.”

“It’s very scary to think that you might go crazy because of the music, because of the loud noise,” said Ruhal Ahmed, a former detainee who is suing the government for the abuse.