There's something about the thrill of commanding a screaming crowd, the glitter of the spotlights and allure of a secret backstage life.

It's a lavish lifestyle and a job often taken for granted by those who own it. Included are benefits that offer large sums of money, rocking music, adoring fans and idol status.

Many want to live the rock star fantasy, but few get the chance. Getting a record deal is a one-in-a-million shot these days.

So some wannabe superstars are taking another route - copying the talent of those who already made it.

Many mask themselves in elaborate stage costumes, surround themselves with party glitz and stand behind the microphone to belt out their versions of radio-hits past.

But cover bands aren't just a group of guys who go on stage to play a few radio singles from their favorite bands - they transform the venue into an arena and themselves into cookie-cutter celebrities.

Chicago glam-rockers Hairbanger's Ball revive the sounds of hair-rock with covers of Def Leppard, Twisted Sister, Guns N' Roses and other 1980s rockers.

Even though the six-piece band isn't the Kiss Army (although they do cover "Rock & Roll All Nite" and "Lick It Up"), band members still don wild wigs, black eyeliner, elaborate stage costumes and even a drum kit decorated in bras and panties from fans. The group plays tonight at Rick's American Café, 224 Abbott Road.

Keyboardist and vocalist Jennifer Remis, better known to her audience as Polly Pantz, said the band is there to have fun, but mostly just to please the audience.

"We live it up," she said. "We're definitely an '80s tribute glam band, and we make sure we go all-out on stage."

The high-energy show reflects not only the music of the times, Remis said, but also the age of excess it existed in.

"We enjoy the age of decadence," she said laughing. "No one can drink as much Jack (Daniel's)."

The band, which has played to clubs and bars of more than 800 people, has been doing so well on the road that members no longer have to hold 9-to-5 jobs.

"We weren't expecting the success at all," Remis said. "But all of a sudden everything just blew up.

"We're making it."

No one would expect that playing covers in some bar would pay the bills, but many cover bands are disproving the myth that there's no money in playing other people's music.

East Lansing artist Jerry Sprague, whose talents are part of a family tradition, hasn't had to carry a regular job since 1985.

"I get paid a lot of money," he said. "It's a great thing, but it's still a lot of work."

Although some people have accused cover bands of taking away valuable venue time from local original acts, Sprague said he doesn't get the same reaction when he performs his own music.

"I've gotten flack before," he said. "But I find when I play songs I write I don't get any response from the audience.

"People want to hear covers and people do them because of that."

Muddy Halftones lead guitarist Bill Malone has experienced the same thing. He said a lot of area bars prefer the sounds of covers.

"It is a blow to the local music scene," he said. "Our original goal was to establish our own music, but a lot of bars don't want that.

"They want danceable, recognizable music, so that's what we give them."

Local group Brushfire has filled the dance floor at Rick's only to have it emptied when the main act - a band playing all original music - came on stage. The new band - made up of members of the Spartan Marching Band - hasn't tried putting out its own music yet.

"I think that it's really too bad that bands that aren't really well known don't get to put their music out there," music education junior Chris Takis said. "I really wish people were paying attention."

Starting the cover band wasn't something Takis said he was really planing for, it just sort of happened by "weird" circumstances.

His lead singer, music education senior Adam Busuttil, got the band its first gig through his mom. The venue: an elementary school assembly in Warren.

"I remember doing things we would never do under normal circumstances," Takis said. "We were jumping around with the guitar, Adam ran into the crowd with the mike.

"It was really cheesy, but the kids loved it."

Met with rows of students sitting cross-legged - youngest toward the front and oldest yelling requests from the back - Takis said his young crowd was full of energy.

"Of course the fourth- and fifth-grade kids were yelling for us to play Kid Rock and Eminem," he said. "They were screaming and yelling and jumping around.

"The best part was when kids came up to us after the show and asked me for my autograph."

Although some might laugh at the odd venue for a cover band's first gig, Takis said the performance landed the group $400 and a booking at another elementary school.

"It was cool for us, I mean, I figured how often am I going to get to sign autographs?" he said. "Plus it was good for the kids because we did the whole stay-in-school thing and they got to miss class."