Of course, I am talking about the Canadian band Streetheart’s 1979 cover of The Rolling Stones’ “Under My Thumb”. To many Canadians, this isn’t news. We still hear some of Streetheart’s songs in regular classic radio rotation, to this day. But for most of you, this legendary Canadian band from the 70’s and 80’s will be completely new.
When you watch this video, and it is worth a listen, you have to keep in mind that this recording looks to be from a TV broadcast from the period Much Music TV station. The sound is not as rich as it could be but the guitar, drum and bass work is pretty cohesive. To hear this song playing on a killer stereo from a proper recording while tooling through the Rocky Mountains or our endless prairies, is about as Canadian as it gets EH!.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the Stones’ version but I prefer the cover.
Just in case I haven’t convinced you that this band Streetheart could cover like nobody’s business I will toss up another for your consideration. This one might be a little tougher to recall as the original dates back to 1967. The Small Faces’ classic “Tin Soldier” is definitely one of the top singles of all time and certainly worthy of a cover.
Because whoever reads this may not have heard the original song I am linking to this one first. Give it a listen and then check out Streetheart’s cover of “Tin Soldier”. Granted, the cover is faithful but for my money, Kenny Shields sings it better than Steve Marriott.
This relatively unknown Canadian band didn’t just perform covers, they had some pretty rock’in originals as well. The first song on their first album back in 1978, “Action” delivers some great musicianship.
The band is worth checking out even though the music is over 30 years old. Some of the members of Streetheart went on to form another Canadian band called Loverboy who had a couple of successful hits with “Turn Me Loose” and “Working for The Weekend”.