In July 1981, Rush ended their tour in support of their previous album "Moving Pictures". The album became their most commercially successful of their history, granting them their first No. 1 album in Canada and selling over one million copies in the United States at the tour's conclusion. Rush then took a three-month break, during which they oversaw the production and mixing of their second live release, "Exit...Stage Left", at Le Studio in Morin-Heights, Quebec. In one of drummer and lyricist Neil Peart's diary entries written during this time, he had been cleaning a Hayman drum kit that was housed in the studio and, in September 1981, began working out a song with two members of the band's road crew, the unreleased "Tough Break". Peart was also working on lyrics, in particular a set which included "Subdivisions", a track the group would later record for "Signals".