Internationally, the song reached number one in Norway and entered the top 10 in Australia, Austria, Canada, Iceland, New Zealand, and Sweden.

[4] Described by biographer Julian Palacios as having "no opportunities whatsoever", Beck worked low-wage jobs to survive, but still found time to perform his songs at local coffeehouses and clubs.

[16] The song's drum track is sampled from a Johnny Jenkins cover of Dr. John's "I Walk on Guilded Splinters" from the 1970 album Ton-Ton Macoute!.

[17] During the song's break, there is a sample of a line of dialogue from the 1991 Steve Hanft-directed film Kill the Moonlight, which goes "I'm a driver/I'm a winner/Things are gonna change, I can feel it".

[19] The song's chorus, in which Beck sings the lines "Soy un perdedor/I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me?

[21] Jon Pareles wrote in The New York Times that "The sentiment of 'Loser' [...] reflects the twentysomething trademark, a mixture of self-mockery and sardonic defiance", noting Beck's "offhand vocal tone and free-associative lyrics" and comparing his vocals to "Bob Dylan talk-singing".

[27] Beck made his worldwide live radio performance debut on July 23, 1993 during KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic, hosted by Chris Douridas.

[29] Convinced that the song was a potential hit, Rothrock gave a vinyl pressing of the single to his friend Tony Berg, who had been working in the A&R department for Geffen Records.

"[30] In January 1994, DGC reissued "Loser" on CD and cassette, and Geffen began heavily promoting the single.

"Loser"'s worldwide success shot Beck into a position of attention, and the media dubbed him the center of the new so-called "slacker" movement.

"[36] Around the time of the song's release, Beck had been approached about including "Loser" on the soundtrack of the comedy film Dumb and Dumber, but he refused.

"[37] In his Consumer Guide, Robert Christgau gave the single CD a one-star honorable mention (), picked out two songs, "Fume" and "Alcohol", and stated that it's Beck's "greatest hit, an album demo, and two-for-three prime odds and ends".

"[40] Paul Moody from NME wrote, "A greased-up sliding blues it may be, but deep inside it there's a smog-filled LA desperation at work (The re-run shows and the cocaine nose jobs/The folk singer slob who hung himself with a guitar string) where Beck actually, erm, makes some sense.

"[41] Michael Azerrad from Rolling Stone commented, "Enter 23-year-old Beck singing, I'm a loser, baby, so why don't you kill me?

"[42] Another Rolling Stone editor, Paul Evans, felt it "was an awesome, omnipresent single, its trickle-of-consciousness lyrics, ragged acoustic six-string and noise percussion lingering on the radio waves like air freshener.

Strangled, ragged, fuzzed-out vocals squeeze alongside the swagger of a John Lee Hooker geetar and a hiccupy hip hop beat.

"[43] Charles Aaron from Spin ranked the song number one in his list of the "Top 20 Singles of the Year", adding that it "was novelty-pop as generational statement like nothing else since '(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right to Party!

'"[44] Another Spin editor, Jay Stowe, wrote, "An irresistible hook-line like I'm a loser, baby, so why don't you kill me...?

[3] Around the time the song was released, "Weird Al" Yankovic had approached Beck asking for permission to record a parody called "Schmoozer".

Beck stated in 2022 that he wished he had given Yankovic permission, saying "I think it would have been an amazing video, I'm actually really sad it didn't happen.

Hanft had worked for a week on storyboards for the video, then called a meeting with Beck's label, Bong Load Records, and requested a $300 shooting budget.

Filming for the video was done all across California, including in Rothrock's Humboldt County studio and backyard and at the Santa Monica graveyard.

Beck insisted they were "fucking around" when they made the video; he told Option in 1994, "We weren't making anything slick – it was deliberately crude.

[13] Clips and sounds sampled from Hanft's 1991 Cal Arts, MFA thesis film, "Kill the Moonlight", about a loser stock car racer, are also included in the video and song.

"Loser" ranked sixth in the music video category in the 1994 Village Voice Pazz & Jop poll.