Uranus and the Five Moons

This was for real. Amid the tidal wave of new, exciting, and groundbreaking music that we heard from 1964 to 1968, was the very special sound of a cover band from Wesleyan (class of 1967) with a name that nobody could forget. (Arguably, another regional group, Moby Dick and His Seamen, won first place in the name category, but Uranus was certainly a contender.) They were not a gimmick; they played straight ahead rock and they drove a retrofitted hearse to their gigs:

The band put out a single on Gotcha Records, A side is Your Groove, B side Mimi von Lark.

Uranus and the Five Moons played the whole Northeastern college circuit—Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth, Williams, Amherst, Mount Holyoke, Wheaton, Wesleyan, UConn, Penn, and more. They performed at Williams several times.

Uranus and company enjoyed the reputation of “the best party band ever”. They recognized as influences the Beatles, Stones, Chuck Berry, the Rascals, and others. To reacquaint yourself with their sound, or to hear it for the first time, click on this link to YouTube which features Your Groove. If you have recollections of particular parties on campus where they played, feel free to share them with us.

Over the decades following graduation, they were the reunion band playing at Wesleyan. Word has it that members of the group still reunite from time to time. However, it’s been mentioned that one of the group is now an anthropologist who spends most of his time in Southeast Asia. Another has run a vodka distillery in St. Johnsbury, VT called Vermont Spirits.