The song U2 retired after it was used as murder evidence
For the first few weeks of Robert John Bardo’s trial, he showed no emotion. His attorneys were under no illusion that he had murdered model and actor Rebecca Schaeffer, but they argued that he suffered from schizophrenia. So he sat, impassively awaiting the verdict, until the court played a famous U2 track as evidence, and Bardo began to perk up, singing along to its lyrics like he was a couple of drinks deep at a pub.
Bardo had followed his stalking desires long before he murdered Schaeffer. He was initially drawn to child peace activist Samantha Smith, but after failing to get any contact with her, along with her death in 1985, he moved on to his next target. After sending multiple letters to Schaeffer, Bardo tried to enter the set of the CBS series My Sister Sam, which Schaeffer starred in. However, security denied him entry, urging him to leave.
Although Warner Brothers had a protocol to inform executives and actors about unwelcome advances, security deemed Bardo’s departure without causing commotion as too insignificant to report to Schaeffer. Subsequently, he acquired her home address through a detective agency, and approached her at her residence, upset over her appearance in a particular film scene that he deemed branded her another “Hollywood whore”.
Following his initial rejection by Schaeffer, Bardo briefly stopped at a diner for breakfast. Approximately an hour later, he returned to Schaeffer’s apartment and once more rang the doorbell. When Schaeffer answered the door, Bardo fatally shot her in the chest. During the trial, Bardo claimed that U2’s song ‘Exit’ influenced him to murder her, which the court proceeded to play as evidence.
Bardo, who up until that point had shown no signs of emotion, even as he heard himself described as a “loony”, seemed to finally appear engaged as he “sprang to life, grinned, bobbed to the music and mouthed the lyrics when the song was played in court,” as reported by the Associated Press. The judge watched as he “rocked in his chair, drummed his hands on his leg and, smiling, mouthed the lyrics ‘pistol weighing heavy’,” per the LA Times.
Throughout the tour for U2’s The Joshua Tree, ‘Exit’ held a prominent place. However, once this particular era concluded, U2 opted not to include the track in their live performances for almost three decades despite it being a cherished favourite among their devoted fanbase.
The song organically emerged during a jam session on the final recording day of The Joshua Tree, with Bono drawing lyrical inspiration from Norman Mailer’s novel The Executioner’s Song and Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. After delving into both books, Bono felt compelled to craft a musical piece from the perspective of a murderer, shaping the thematic essence of ‘Exit’. Even if U2 hadn’t released ‘Exit’, Bardo’s reprehensible act would have still occurred, yet to many, the two became intrinsically associated.
Coincidentally, Bardo was also in possession of a copy of The Catcher in the Rye at the time of Schaeffer’s murder, although he claims he wasn’t attempting to mimic the actions of John Lennon’s assassin, Mark David Chapman, who similarly held the book while shooting the late Beatle. This incident wasn’t the initial indication of intrigue with celebrity fixation, as Chapman later disclosed that Bardo had sent him letters before Schaeffer’s murder, inquiring about life in prison.
