Eddie Weinbauer has a problem: As his high school's resident "metalhead", he is picked on constantly. The jocks harass him in the halls, the girls think he's creepy. This is his life, and the life of most High School Metalheads.

However Eddie (also known as "Ragman") keeps his sanity by writing letters to his rock and roll hero, Sammi Curr. See, Sammi grew up in Eddie's hometown and went to Eddie's high school, and he made it big. This gives Eddie hope, and writing to Sammi gives Eddie a chance to pour out his soul, and makes him feel closer to his idol. Eddie is more than a little upset, however, over the fact that the town council refused to let Sammi play a Halloween concert at Lakeridge High School.

That disappointment is nothing, though, compared to despair Eddie feels upon learning that Sammi has died, the victim of a hotel fire. When Eddie hears this, he goes into an angry depression, ripping down the music posters from his wall. When he reaches for the large poster of Sammi that dominates his room, however, he can't bring himself to destroy it.

The next morning Eddie goes to see Nuke, a DJ that was also a personal friend of Sammi's. Nuke tries to comfort Eddie, trying to tell him that "Sammi did this to himself, he started to believe in his own hype" and that he was "always angry". Nothing Nuke says seems to make any difference to Eddie, however, until the DJ gives him the master tape of Sammi Curr's last record, "Songs in the Key of Death". Nuke tells Eddie that he is supposed to play it at midnight on Halloween, but that he's made a tape of the recording, so Eddie can have the original, saying that "Sammi would have wanted him to have it."

After enduring yet another cruel prank at the hands of the jocks, Eddie plays the record and discovers that it has some strange powers. Sammi seems to be communicating with him when he plays the record backwards, instructing him as to how to get even with his tormenters. Eddie follows the "advice" and does get over on the jocks. This makes Eddie feel empowered, and it seems the more he listens to the record, the more of an upper hand he gets. Eddie begins to get nervous, though, when his actions begin to have more harmful consequences, and he decides to stop doing Sammi's bidding.

Sammi has different plans, however, and he doesn't intend to let Eddie off the hook. You see, Sammi is able to materialize through his music, and he is determined to do some REAL hell-raising! He further warns Eddie: "You should be loyal to your heroes; They could turn on you." Will Eddie be able to stop him, or will Sammi have his revenge on everyone in town?

....and so it begins.