Starting in the early 1970s, Liebling was the frontman for metal band Pentagram. They staggered along for several years, blocked from the big time by a combination of bad luck, worse timing, and downright self-destructive behavior on the part of Liebling. Today, their name is known to a select band of cultists and conoisseurs. Every now and again, a new compilation bubbles to the surface or they are celebrated by another deep-digging rocker looking for roots-metal inspiration. The song selections that Argott and Fenton include give evidence to Pentagram's being a serious contender for one of the great unknown rock legends. A producer for Blue Oyster Cult -- who was meant to record some songs for a very grateful and on-the-cusp Pentagram, before Liebling drove him away -- refers to them as a "street Black Sabbath," and their punishing riffs and Liebling's self-laceratingly dark lyrics seem to prove it.

When the film starts, Liebling is near catatonic in his parents' Maryland townhouse. His arms are covered in bandages because of his insistence that parasites are burrowing into his skin and must be picked out, and the only thing he seems able to focus on is the ever-present crack pipe. The guardian angel trying to pull him back into the world of the living is Sean "Pellet" Pelletier. The world's biggest Pentagram fan, Pelletier tries to lock Liebling onto the idea of getting back out there and recording an album. Meanwhile, all Liebling can do is talk about his parasites and look for drugs: "Did you see where the big piece of crack went?" Meanwhile downstairs, his astonishingly supportive parents do their best to shrug off the ruin their son's made of their house. When asked how much money they've spent on him over the years, their best guess is a million dollars.