Kramer is supported by a range of younger musicians including the band Claw Hammer and members of Bad Religion, the Melvins, and Suicidal Tendencies.

The album concludes with a hidden track titled "So Long, Hank", a tribute to writer Charles Bukowski who died in 1994.

New York wrote that "...the Hard Stuff shows [Kramer] to be in full command of his jam-kicking facilities," while praising the album's "vital rawness".

[6] David Sprague and Ira Robbins wrote in Trouser Press that the album "careens from free-jazz-backed spoken word to bug-eyed metal in a manner every bit as fierce and feral as Kramer's golden age.

[3] The Washington Post's Mark Jenkins was also critical of the album, writing that on it, Kramer "is still tough and eclectic, but he fails to reconjure the sheer abandon of his former band's best work.