Songfacts®:

• The title track to Saliva's fourth studio album, the title is a play on the phrase "survival of the fittest." In our interview with the band's guitarist Wayne Swinny, he explained: "The title I love, because it takes a terminology that is very serious, and twists it to the exact opposite meaning.
  
  It does apply to the rock world, too. I mean, 'Survival of the Sickest,' man, look at Keith Richards - how is that guy still going? After nuclear war there's going to be cockroaches and Keith Richards. That's kind of where the song came from: in our business, sometimes what is right for the rest of the world is completely wrong.
  
  It's dumb with a sense of humor. It's not really making fun, not trying to promote all the bad things - all the pitfalls of the business that have taken away a lot of our friends. A lot of my close friends have overdosed, died of illnesses that were from drug and alcohol abuse. So you never want to promote that. But it is true and it's part of the business, and if you let yourself be pulled in by it, it's hard to break yourself free from it sometimes. So "Survival of the Sickest" just kind of is about that. You have to learn how to survive in a crazy world where nothing makes sense. And if you can get through it and embrace it and learn how to make it work for you, Bam! You, too, can be in a rock band."
• A band composition, it was lead singer Josey Scott who came up with the title for this song. As soon as he mentioned it to the band, they knew it should be the title of their album.
• The album was produced by Paul Ebersold, who is known for his work with 3 Doors Down. It was recorded in Memphis where the band formed. This posed a problem since there were lots of distractions. "It was hard to even get us all in the studio at the same time," Wayne Swinny said. "Paul had his hands full putting things together for that thing."