In November 1982, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling one million copies in the United States.

[5] 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".

[6] Having arranged some material for their next studio album, Rush toured North America and Europe from October to December 1981 with a setlist that contained "Subdivisions".

[11] Writer and journalist Greg Quill noticed a "cyclical framework" in Signals, specifically the album opening in suburbia followed by contemplating escape in "The Analog Kid".

Peart recalled that his bandmates interrupted him as he was cleaning his car and set up a portable cassette player on the driveway outside the studio, and played him what they had come up with.

[6] Peart had written the words to the song initially as a companion piece to "Digital Man", which Rush had started working on in late 1981, and presented it to Lee.

The two discussed what could be done with the lyrics in a musical sense, deciding on the opposite on what the words may suggest, with Peart describing the track as "a very up-tempo rocker, with some kind of a dynamic contrast for the choruses".

It was during one particular session during the United States leg whereby, after each member checking each of their instruments separately, "a little spontaneous creation" came about which produced a song without the group realising it.

[6] Upon listening to the soundcheck tapes, Lifeson and Lee took each section and arranged it into a complete track before they produced a demo which almost matched the version recorded for the album.

[6] "Chemistry" marked the first time that each member collaborated on the lyrics to a song, with Lifeson and Lee devising its title, concept, and several phrases that they wished for it to include.

After numerous attempts they devised a combination of suitable words and music for the chorus, and Peart wrote: "We were all very pleased with the dynamic and unusual nature of the part, it was so different for us".

[6] However, Brown expressed a lack of enthusiasm to record the song and remained so until the group had continually talked about why it worked "until he got tired of hearing about it".

[6] At a subsequent rehearsal, Peart learned to play the part on his own drum kit which required him to alter his usual technique, but took the experience as an enjoyable challenge.

[6] The group adopted a "fast and loose" approach for its corresponding music and worked swiftly, with the song fully arranged in one day and recorded in the course of the next.

Syme based his design upon receiving merely the album's title, and recalled a "great deal of trouble" in a cover that he and the group were satisfied with.

[18] The final concept came out from the result of several failed ideas, including one that Syme devised which would have involved Rush hooked up to electroencephalography machines as they played in the studio and a snapshot of their heartbeats and brain waves taken during a performance.

She recalled a search to find a Dalmatian who could sniff on command, and placed dog biscuits underneath the hydrant multiple times to get the final shot.

[23] In November 1982, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling one million copies in the United States.

At the time of release, Rolling Stone criticised the band's choice of "emphasizing synthesizers at the expense of Alex Lifeson's guitar," calling the album "mostly a wasted effort.

"[32] In the 2010 documentary film Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage, Trent Reznor cited Signals as an influence for incorporating keyboards into hard rock.