Bad Kid: A Memoir

“David Crabb has a smart mouth. His memoir Bad Kid is a delightfully funny, and devastatingly touching, portrait of the artist as a queer Goth kid growing up in San Antonio in the eighties among skinheads and preps, gays and geeks. Very School of John Waters in his infatuation with (and genius for evoking) trashy Americana, Crabb winds up taking us to the sweet spot of literature: the truth. I rarely laugh or cry when reading. Bad Kid moved me to both.” — Brad Gooch, author of Smash Cut

From comedian, storyteller, and The Moth host David Crabb, comes a music-filled, refreshingly honest coming-of-age memoir about growing up gay and Goth in San Antonio, Texas. 

In the summer of 1989, three Goth kids crossed a street in San Antonio. They had no idea that a deeply confused fourteen-year-old boy was watching. Their dyed hair, fishnets, and eyeliner were his first evidence of another world—a place he desperately wanted to go. He just had no idea how to get there.

Somehow, David Crabb had convinced himself that every guy preferred French-braiding his girlfriend’s hair to making out, and that the funny feelings he got watching Silver Spoons and Growing Pains had nothing to do with Ricky Schroeder or Kirk Cameron. But discovering George Michael’s Faith confirmed what he was already being bullied for: he was gay. Surviving high school would require impossible feats of denial. 

What saved him was finding a group of outlandish friends who reveled in being outsiders. David found himself enmeshed with misfits: wearing black, cutting class, staying out all night, drinking, tripping, chain-smoking, idolizing The Smiths, Pet Shop Boys, and Joy Division—and learning lessons about life and love along the way. 

Richly detailed with 80s pop-culture, and including black and white photos throughout, BAD KID is as laugh-out-loud funny as it is poignant. Crabb’s journey through adolescence captures the essence of every person’s struggle to understand his or her true self.

Discovering George Michael's Faith confirmed for David Crabb what every bully already knew: he was gay. What saved him from high school was finding a group of outlandish friends who reveled in being outsiders. David found himself enmeshed with misfits: wearing black, cutting class, staying out all night, drinking, tripping, chain-smoking, idolizing the Pet Shop Boys—and learning lessons about life and love along the way.

Richly detailed with nineties pop-culture, and including black-and-white photos throughout, Bad Kid is as laugh-out-loud funny as it is poignant. David Crabb's journey through adolescence captures the essence of every person's struggle to understand his or her true self.

“The author’s story wonderfully captures the awkwardness, strife, and even terror of his experience as a gay teen; it is also upbeat, endearing, and achingly funny. A vivid and dramatic slice of adolescence.” - Kirkus Reviews

“...engaging memoir...Crabb presents this hormone-fueled roller-coaster ride with humor and sensitivity, and draws moving portraits of the people who provided him with a community. His evocation of postpunk bands, brutal skinheads, and Goth attire will resonate with those who experienced the era, while his sexual anguish and fumblings are all too universal. Crabb’s exploration of the intensity, and necessity, of teen friendships especially resonates.” - Publishers Weekly

“...engaging memoir...Crabb presents this hormone-fueled roller-coaster ride with humor and sensitivity, and draws moving portraits of the people who provided him with a community. Crabb’s exploration of the intensity, and necessity, of teen friendships especially resonates.” - Publishers Weekly

“The manic energy and overblown drama of adolescence crackle off the page. With just the right mix of humor and pathos, Crabb recounts cringe-worthy teenage milestones like a forced first kiss and the unwanted gift of a car. Not everyone had to face what he did, but all can empathize with Bad Kid.” - Booklist

“With just the right mix of humor and pathos, Crabb recounts cringe-worthy teenage milestones like a forced first kiss and the unwanted gift of a car. Not everyone had to face what he did, but all can empathize with Bad Kid.” - Booklist

“I expected a memoir from David Crabb to be funny; what I wasn’t prepared for is how touching it is. You needn’t have been a gay and Goth teenager in San Antonio in the early ‘90s to relate to Bad Kid. It’s a story of finding oneself in adolescence for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider.” - Teddy Wayne, author of The Love Song of Jonny Valentine and Kapitoil

“Bad Kid manages to do what so many books claim, but then, frankly, fail to do: it makes you laugh, and then, through a perfect turn of phrase or, perhaps, the perfect reference to the perfect song, it makes you cry. Crabb moves masterfully from the profane to the exalted.” - Sara Barron, author of The Harm in Asking

“I expected a memoir from David Crabb to be funny; what I wasn’t prepared for is how touching it is. It’s a story of finding oneself in adolescence for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider.” - Teddy Wayne, author of The Love Song of Jonny Valentine and Kapitoil

“David Crabb has a smart mouth. His memoir Bad Kid is a delightfully funny, and devastatingly touching, portrait of the artist as a queer Goth kid growing up in San Antonio in the eighties among skinheads and preps, gays and geeks. Very School of John Waters in his infatuation with (and genius for evoking) trashy Americana, Crabb winds up taking us to the sweet spot of literature: the truth. I rarely laugh or cry when reading. Bad Kid moved me to both.” - Brad Gooch, author of Smash Cut

“Crabb winds up taking us to the sweet spot of literature: the truth. I rarely laugh or cry when reading. Bad Kid moved me to both.” - Brad Gooch, author of Smash Cut

“You simply won’t find a more hilarious and captivating storyteller than David Crabb. His tales of a misspent youth are jaw-dropping, but clearly, his head and heart stayed gold.” - Kevin Allison, writer and performing member of MTV's The State

“How can this author’s painful coming-out story-set in Texas at the height of AIDS panic-be so utterly hilarious? Only David Crabb could transform loneliness and awkwardness and drugs and heartache into a laugh-out-loud, hair-blowing-in-the-wind, ‘90s-music-blasting, eyeliner-dripping joy ride. Bad Kid is a must-read. David Crabb is a force.” - Diana Spechler, author of Who by Fire and Skinny

“How can this author’s painful coming-out story-set in Texas be so utterly hilarious? Only David Crabb could transform loneliness and awkwardness and heartache into a laugh-out-loud, ‘90s-music-blasting, eyeliner-dripping joy ride. Bad Kid is a must-read.” - Diana Spechler, author of Who by Fire and Skinny