Since no established label wanted to offer the three talented guys from Toronto a record deal after years of sessions and live gigs, Rush's management SRO founded their own independent record company called Moon Records in 1973 specifically for them. That very same year, singer and bassist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson and John Rutsey on drums set to work and recorded their self-titled debut album at Toronto Sound Studios, which they also produced themselves. In contrast to their later albums, the trio presented a hard-hitting blues rock with heavy metal elements and no progressive influences whatsoever.

It was released in March 1974 in a small initial pressing in Canada with an album cover designed by the well-known Canadian musician and designer Paul Weldon. Thanks to extensive airplay on the commercial rock radio station WMMS in Cleveland, Ohio, fans and labels became aware of the band, and the major label Mercury re-released the album four months later. As a result, it became the best-selling debut album by a Canadian band through many further reissues. Due to the small print run of only 3,500 copies and the band's popularity today, the original release on Moon Records is now an extremely sought-after collector's item worldwide, fetching higher and higher prices.