[1] Following an announcement by Waits on his official web site on August 16, 2011[2] stating that he "will set the record straight," the artwork, track listing, song length and an audio clip of "Bad as Me" were released on Amazon[3] and musicME.

"[5] The previous June, Waits posted a picture of a chalkboard, with the lyrics to the song's chorus, on his official web site and social media pages.

"[7] Stereogum also described the song as "a characteristically unhinged caterwaul,"[8] and SFWeekly further commented that the song was "pure, melodramatic Waits, with a dragging blues beat, stabbing, reverb-dipped guitars, and a horn section that plays accomplice to the gritty unfoldings [...] making the whole thing feel like the perfect soundtrack to some dusty bar full of misfits and killers in a Robert Rodriguez film.

"[9] Over a week after its release, "Bad as Me" was added to Rolling Stone's Editors' Picks and was referred to as "a gloriously ramshackle thing, with pop's greatest living vaudevillian pushing his drunkard's bleat over a honking baritone sax and a clattering oompah beat" and called the lyrics "total nonsense, and pure genius.

"[10] Tom Jones performs the song on Spirit in the Room, an album of cover versions.