“Bad Reputation” was first released by Joan Jett during her short solo career, on her debut album of the same name in 1980. Since then, the song has been included on multiple Joan Jett & The Blackhearts compilation albums.

It was named the 29th best rock song in 2009 by VH1, making it the highest ranking song on the list by a female artist.

The song is among the most popular of Joan Jett’s and has been used in a number of popular media, including television shows Freaks and Geeks and Jessica Jones, movies 10 Things I Hate About You, Shrek, Kick-Ass, Easy A, and The DUFF, video game Rock Band 2, the current theme of WWE Superstar Ronda Rousey, and many others.

The music video is a black and white silent film style reenactment of record labels rejecting Joan’s solo album, and the success of her band’s cover of I Love Rock N' Roll.