James Boyce, The Huffington Post

AC/DC's lead singer Brian Johnson gave an interview in Australia where he stood up and criticized both Sir Bob Geldof and Bono for the unforgivable sin of trying to make the world a better place and for helping those less fortunate than themselves. Or Brian, for that matter.

Certainly, Brian has a right to make his opinion, however, moronic it may be.

Any grown man willing to share a stage with a man in his 60s dressed as a school boy has more courage than most. Any man who, at the age of 62, can still claim to being knocked out by American thighs might also be worthy of respect on some levels.

However, when it comes to criticizing celebrities who stand up for causes and charities and especially when it comes to criticizing Geldof and Bono, Brian Johnson proves to be as ignorant as those music critics who don't recognize "Back In The Black" as a truly great song.

First, let's look at what Brian Johnson actually said:

The Huffington Post

AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson is taking on Bono and Bob Geldof for their public displays of charity work.

"When I was a working man I didn't want to go to a concert for some bastard to talk down to me that I should be thinking of some kid in Africa," he told Melbourne's Herald Sun. "I'm sorry mate, do it yourself, spend some of your own money and get it done. It just makes me angry. I become all tyrannical."

Johnson said that his own band prefers to make their charitable contributions in private.

"Do a charity gig, fair enough, but not on worldwide television," he said.

By Gavin Daly, Sunday Business Post

The planned U2 Tower in the Dublin docklands has been put on hold for another year. The Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) has written to the backers of the €200 million project, saying it will not go ahead until next year at the earliest.

It is the latest setback for the skyscraper project, which had already been put on hold for a year because of the deterioration of the property market and the economy.

The tower was to be developed by Geranger, a consortium made up of U2, Sean Merlyn's Ballymore Properties, property developer Paddy McKillen and architect Norman Foster. The consortium was named preferred bidder for the project in October 2007 and the 130metre tower was originally due to be completed next year.

By Maureen Coleman, Belfast Telegraph

A tour bus pulls up in Belfast's Lower Donegall Street with a big-haired band on board. Screaming teenage girls, in neon brights and leather jackets, greet the denim-clad rockers as they disembark. Nearby a market stallholder in pink pixie boots rubs her hands to fend off the cold.

Visitors to the Cathedral Quarter yesterday could be forgiven for thinking they had stepped back in time to the late 1970s/early 1980s, when new wave groups, red double-deckers, Ford Cortinas and pleated trousers were de rigeur.

Instead, it's a scene from music-comedy Killing Bono, being filmed in the city.

Starring Chronicles Of Narnia's Ben Barnes, the movie is set during U2's formative years in Dublin and London.

Mary J. Blige, Justin Timberlake, Madonna and Wyclef Jean are among those who bring real artistic achievement to the earthquake relief fundraiser.

By Ann Powers, Los Angeles Times Pop Music Critic

Programs like Friday's "Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief" do not exist to further musical careers, introduce new material or birth fruitful collaborations. Tragedies like last week's seismic disaster necessitate such urgent media efforts, and fundraising is their primary objective. Important information may also be transmitted; perhaps someone's consciousness will be raised. The pleasure, surprise or release that art can offer is merely added value.

That said, several of the major names who came on board for Haiti went beyond the expected heartstring tugs. Many delivered on precisely that front: The evening was full of big ballads and classic laments, from the opening "Prelude To a Kiss" by Alicia Keys to Jennifer Hudson's "Let It Be" and Stevie Wonder's "Bridge Over Troubled Water."

Others did something different. They made song choices or delivered performances that subtly enhanced our understanding of incomprehensible events.

U2, Jay-Z and producer Swizz Beatz have recorded a song together to raise money for victims of the Haiti earthquake.

BBC News

U2's guitarist The Edge told Irish radio station 2FM the band "wrote a song, finished and recorded" last week after being contacted about the idea.

The Edge, Bono and Jay-Z, along with Rihanna, are due to appear in London for "a group performance" as part of Friday's Hope For Haiti telethon.

George Clooney's two-hour benefit show will be aired on MTV in the UK.

The Edge told 2FM DJ Dave Fanning over the weekend: "Bono got a call from a producer, Swizz. He and Jay-Z wanted to do something for Haiti.

Los Angeles Times

Heroin and NASCAR, who knew? U2 fans watching the NFL playoffs on Fox this weekend surely heard what would seem to be an oddly placed song scoring the network's preview of the upcoming Daytona 500: U2's mid-'80s hit "Bad." The commercial features little more than a snippet of one of the Edge's most recognizable guitar riffs -- the few slow, glistening notes that set the table for the song's explosive rock 'n' roll release.

U2 hasn't exactly shied away from commercial endorsements of late, or massive sporting events. Also, anyone who has attended any NFL, NBA or MLB game in recent years has likely heard "Beautiful Day" piped throughout the arena or stadium, further linking U2 with the sporting world. Yet judging by some previous NASCAR-branded music releases, U2 seems to be a bit out of place with the barroom hits and country rock more closely tied to the sport.

Stars including Bono, Justin Timberlake and Alicia Keys will perform in the Hope For Haiti TV fundraising event, organiser George Clooney has announced.

BBC News

The actor said more than 40 celebrities were expected to attend the Hope For Haiti event on 22 January.

The aim of the telethon, he added, was "to show the people of Haiti that the whole world is paying attention".

Clooney and Haitian-born singer Wyclef Jean will host the benefit, to be shown on more than a dozen US TV networks.

Other performers will include Sting and Christina Aguilera.

Clooney attended the Golden Globe awards on Sunday, where he was nominated for best actor for his film Up In The Air.

Example of the U2=BBC ad campaign from March of 2009

AFP

LONDON -- A BBC editorial watchdog body criticised the British broadcaster Thursday for breaching its own guidelines by appearing to promote the bands U2 and Coldplay in its coverage of them.

The BBC's Editorial Complaints Unit slammed an on-screen slogan "U2=BBC" used during its coverage of U2's last album as "inappropriate," while a "Radio 1 presents Coldplay" website broke guidelines about links to external sites.

The findings came after RadioCentre, the trade body for commercial radio firms in Britain, complained about the BBC's coverage of a Coldplay tour and U2's launch of its "No Line On The Horizon."

BBC's editorial complaints unit says promotion, which included concert on roof of Broadcasting House, breached guidelines

John Plunkett, The Guardian UK

The BBC today admitted that it breached its guidelines in promoting U2's latest album, No Line on the Horizon, and that altering its logo to "U2=BBC" was inappropriate.

The corporation's editorial complaints unit said coverage of last year's album launch, which included a concert on the roof of Broadcasting House, amounted to "undue prominence for commercial products or organisations" and breached BBC editorial guidelines.

It said the use of the slogan U2=BBC "gave an inappropriate impression of endorsement", and said a reference to the BBC being "part of launching this new album", in an interview between Zane Lowe and U2's Bono on BBC Radio 1, was inappropriate.