Songfacts®:

• One of the earliest Puddle Of Mudd songs, "Drift And Die" first appeared on their 1994 EP Stuck, released independently a few years after the band formed. The song reflects lead singer Wes Scantlin's mindset at the time:
  
  I'll take my time as I drift and die
  
  The band had been active for just a few years and was starting to make a name in the Kansas City area. They continued to struggle and by the late '90s had fallen apart. Scantlin's savior was Fred Durst, who was not only the frontman for Limp Bizkit, but also the boss of Flawless Records, an imprint of Interscope. Just before leaving for a new life in New Orleans, Scantlin acquired a fake pass and snuck backstage on the Kansas City stop of Limp Bizkit's tour. He gave Durst's security guard a copy of the Puddle Of Mudd demo tape, and while he was on his way to New Orleans found out that Durst was interested. Flawless only signed Scantlin, so his bandmates were out of luck. The label helped him assemble a new lineup that recorded their debut Flawless album, Come Clean, released in 2001 with a new version of "Drift And Die."
• "Drift And Die" was the third single from the Come Clean album. "Control" came first, reaching #68 in October 2001, the same month the band kicked off their first headlining tour. "Blurry" was next, and it was huge, reaching #5 in May 2002 as the band formed a fanbase. "Drift And Die" followed, going to #61 in July, and in December, "She Hates Me" climbed to #13. The band was on the road for most of this time so they didn't get their next album, Life On Display, out until 2003 when nu-metal had fallen out of favor.
• Scantlin wrote this song with Jimmy Allen, Puddle Of Mudd's original guitarist. They were good friends and worked together at a printing business owned by Allen's parents. Allen wasn't part of the band when they signed their record deal, but he's credited as a songwriter on "Drift And Die," "Blurry," and "She Hates Me."
  
  "We would sit there and write, and he actually wrote a lot of the lyrics on that, and the music," Scantlin told Songfacts regarding "Drift And Die."
  
  "Jimmy was writing, and then I would come over he would fire up a joint or something, and he would show me his idea," he added. "Then he was like, 'Come up with some killer melodies.' So that's how that went down."
• Fred Durst must have cloned himself in the early '00s. In addition to running Limp Bizkit and his own label, he also directed the music video for "Drift And Die," which is made up of footage showing the band on the road.
• This is one of the most popular live songs for Puddle Of Mudd. Wes Scantlin has kept the band going with different lineups over the years.