John Ringer, 41, figured he hadn't been out to a club to see a live band in at least a year. So when he finally chose to hit Jersey's Bar in Inver Grove Heights with his girlfriend last month, he said, "I didn't want to go out and hear music I've never heard before. What fun is that?"

Fun and familiarity are the driving forces behind cover bands such as the one Ringer came to see, Brat Pack Radio. Like Boogie Wonderland before it, the '80s jukebox group sets itself apart from the crowd of cover bands by dressing up in wigs and costumes and using fake names, such as Holly Ringwald and Gilbert Downey Jr. (faux siblings to the so-called Brat Pack of actors).

"There's nothing worse than a cover band that takes itself too seriously," said Ryan Lance, who leads Brat Pack Radio along with his wife, Heidi Jo Langseth. "Our philosophy is to be as silly as possible."

No strangers to the "serious" music business -- Ryan is a member of the holiday-flurry a cappella group the Blenders, and Heidi is an older sister of blues-rock star Jonny Lang -- the husband-and-wife team dreamed up the idea for Brat Pack Radio after a few nights out singing karaoke. Realizing the novelty appeal of the synth-laden '80s pop songs they grew up with, Ryan recalled, "We thought, 'Why don't we try to do this for real and get paid?' "

They're getting paid, all right. Thanks to the demand in suburban bars, county fairs and small-town festivals, cover bands often can make more money per gig and play more gigs per month than an original band playing hipper venues.

"We're happy playing the suburban bars because they usually pay best," admitted Lance, who said the payoff is "we get to support our family this way."

Mike Findling, whose old metal band Slave Raider was one of the most popular local groups of the '80s, is getting paid almost as much after only four years with his costumed cover band Hairball.

"In Slave Raider, we had a record deal that gave us a $10,000 advance, but we somehow wound up owing $15,000," Findling said. "You don't have to deal with anything like that in a cover band."

But both Findling and another cover-band frontman, Adam Levy of the '70s soul-rock group Hookers & Blow, say there's a lot more to it than the money:

"It's not like I thought it'd become any big cash cow," said Levy, who also leads the well-known original pop-rock band the Honeydogs. Levy likened his all-star ensemble to a "bowling night musical experience" for its musicians and said, "If it weren't fun, we wouldn't be doing it."

Said Findling, "Entertaining people is always rewarding, however you do it."

The best-known and probably best-paid cover band in town, disco-machinists Boogie Wonderland can make close to $10,000 on a weekend night, local club promoters said. Most original bands are lucky to make $1,000.

The tradeoff is that cover bands earn a high degree of disrespect from critics and musicians. Some of Boogie Wonderland's members have played in respected original bands, but they hide behind pseudonyms as well as wigs and sunglasses in this alter-ego act. The band members declined to be interviewed for this story because, their manager said, "They haven't liked some of the things written about them in the press."

Maybe it doesn't work with a book, but you certainly can judge a band by its covers -- even if the members are covered in hokey stage attire that looks stolen from a Party Warehouse. Here's a side-by-side comparison of four of the hottest (and in some cases hairiest) cover bands in town.

Boogie Wonderland

Their songs: "Get Down Tonight,"Get Down on It,"I Will Survive,"That's the Way (I Like It),"Hot Stuff."

Their costumes: While frontwoman Christy Love wears anything that flaunts her "flawless features" (their website's terminology), the guys in the band don enough polyester shirts, chest-revealing jumpsuits, gold chains and 'fro-sized wigs to put Studio 54 back in business.

Their story: The grand poohbahs of the cover-band scene, they have dominated the business for much of their eight years.