Reception
"Exit" received mixed reception from critics. Colin Hogg of The New Zealand Herald described the song as a "decidedly scary... guitar-driven barrage". Divina Infusino of the The San Diego Union-Tribune described it as "blistering". Tony Perry of The Patriot-News felt it was one of the low points of the album, stating "'Exit'... crescendoes into little more than noise", a sentiment echoed by Lennox Samuels of The Dallas Morning News who called it "a dull piece". Writing for the Orange County Registrar, Jim Washburn and Noel Davis called it "a journey through a killer's mind, made harrowing not so much by Hewson's creepy-religo lyrics as by the band's (still The Edge, drummer Larry Mullen and bassist Adam Clayton) overdriven backing, which practically boils right out of the pot." Thom Duffy of the Orlando Sentinel labelled the song's atmosphere "eerie".
Richard Harrington of The Washington Post called it "metaphorically ambivalent". Barbara Jaeger of The Bergen Record called Clayton's bassline "ominous". Stokes described it as "the antithesis of bright, ringing, optimistic, inspirational selves, it was dirty, loud, discordant, repetitive, noisy, black. If the intention was to invoke a sense of evil abroad, then it was effective". Graham said "'Exit' should have exploded the myth of U2 as the nice guys of rock. Never had they shown such a vicious streak or produced such a withering track.... Far more than even 'Bullet the Blue Sky', playing is scratching at the prison bars of polished good taste", describing it as the wild card of the album. Author John Luerssen contrasted it to the rest of the band's catalogue, saying "Unlike most of the songs U2 had written up to this point, 'Exit' lacked any optimism." Hot Press contributor Colm O'Hare felt the claims by Bardo evoked memories of Charles Manson's use of "Helter Skelter", and contained "even more sinister shades" of the death of John Lennon. In Rolling Stone, Steve Pond argued it was "awkward enough to remind you that not even Patti Smith could regularly pull off this sort of thing."
Although "Exit" was not released as a single it charted in the Netherlands, peaking at number 46 after two weeks.
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