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[30th Debut Anniversary] Exploring the Allure of BUCK-TICK and Their Music
BUCK-TICK is a Japanese rock band that has journeyed through the eras with their unique songs.
They’re still a fully active band, and if you haven’t listened to them yet, please give this article a read.
Now, let’s dive into their appeal and their music.
What is BUCK-TICK?
When people hear the name BUCK-TICK, those of a certain age probably think, “They were really popular back then,” or recall things like “Aku no Hana.”
It's exactly a 'Where are they now?' situation.
Although BUCK-TICK is perceived that way by the public, in reality they have continued their activities consistently, and it has now been 30 years since their formation.
in the meantimewithout a single member changeThere are also some devoted longtime fans.
About the only other band of that type I know would be something like Elephant Kashimashi.
However, I don't think the essence of how great the band is lies there.
You can tell when you listen to their songs, but they alwayscutting-edge of the timeskeeps running.
Its popularity is by no means sustained by nostalgia or anything of the sort.
Even now, thanks to the influence of anime and the internet, they still have young fans. And a while back, the drummer of the currently hot band [Alexandros], Satoshiyasu Shomura, publicly stated in a magazine that they’re one of his favorite bands.
But what exactly are BUCK-TICK’s songs that captivate people so much? This time, I’d like to shine a spotlight on that.
Member composition
BUCK-TICK is a band formed in 1987 in Gunma, and all the members are from Gunma Prefecture.
There are five members,
- Atsushi Sakurai (born March 7, 1966): vocals, lyrics.
- Hisashi Imai (born October 21, 1965): guitar, noise, chorus, lyrics, composition.
- Hoshino Hidehiko (June 16, 1966): Guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, composition.
- Yutaka Higuchi (January 24, 1967): bass.
- Toru Yagami (August 19, 1962): drums. (Honorifics omitted)
It consists of these five people.
Their first major single in 1988, “JUST ONE MORE KISS,” was used in a tie-in for the boombox ‘CDian’ and became a huge hit.
Due to the impact of the spiky blond hair and makeup at that time,X JAPANIt came to be regarded as one of the original pioneers of visual kei, alongside groups such as these.
And they are also one of the few active bands that have continued working with a major label since the band boom era.
Since 'visual kei' is not a musical definition, it’s hard to handle, but within the visual kei genre there are many people who were influenced by BUCK-TICK, including J and SUGIZO (both of whom...LUNA SEA... ), Yukihiro (L’Arc~en~Ciel), and Tatsuro (MUCC), making for a dazzling lineup in that scene (honorifics omitted).
And since BUCK-TICK were pioneers of visual kei but are not themselves visual kei, there are many fans who say, “I’m not into visual kei, but I like BUCK-TICK.”
For that reason, figures from seemingly different fields—such as Kishidan’s vocalist Show Ayanokoji and Coaltar of the Deepers’ NARASAKI—have publicly expressed their respect and even participated in tribute albums, showing the influence that extends beyond the visual kei scene.
The appeal of the song
When it comes to this band's appeal, you could point to Atsushi Sakurai’s otherworldly looks and bewitching vocals, Hiroshi Imai’s tricky guitar work, and the rhythm guitar, bass, and drums that together create a kind of rock that sounds accessible at first listen yet runs deep—somehow strange and pop at the same time.
One consistent pursuit of theirs since the release of the 1991 album Crazy Sun has been their approach to club music and electronic music.
On their recent album as the “mad sun,” darker than darkness-style 93-, they also showcased heavy, noisy guitars laid over dub- and hip-hop-like rhythms. On the 1997 album SEXY STREAM LINER, they produced many tracks that hinted at the then globally popular drum’n’bass and Detroit techno. In more recent years, with works like Atom Miraiha No.9, they have tightly fused electronica-style melodies with a full band sound to create cohesive, somewhat cyberpunk tracks. Throughout, they have consistently maintained a stance of not being bound by so-called conventional band sounds.
like thatWhile preserving its core, it continues to evolve its presence in response to the times.thing; matter; event; (nominalizer turning verbs/clauses into nouns)The reason we can remain a perpetually fresh presence as a bandI think (it is) so.
I can’t guarantee you’ll get hooked, but I can say for sure this isn’t the kind of song you’d expect from a band approaching its 30th anniversary—so I really hope you’ll give it a listen.
Recommended songs
BUCK-TICK boasts a career spanning 30 years, and as a result they have a diverse catalog of songs.
This time, I’m going to pick out 11 recommended songs, making sure they’re spread across different eras to some extent.
1.
ICONOCLASM
This song was first included on BUCK-TICK’s 1988 album “TABOO,” which earned them their first No. 1 on the Oricon charts, and later on the 1992 self-cover album “Koroshi no Shirabe this is not greatest hits.” It is also frequently featured on their best-of compilations.
The track layers a somewhat off-kilter guitar over industrial, mechanical drum phrases, creating a distinctive groove.
From ’88, while being influenced by very early industrial, it isn’t as fanatically niche as genre progenitors like Throbbing Gristle or Foetus, and the touch of pop sensibility is quintessentially BUCK-TICK.
I was really surprised when I first listened to it, because it didn’t seem like the kind of song you’d expect to be the first track on a number-one Oricon album.
2.
Flowers of Evil
It’s a track that could be called one of BUCK-TICK’s signature songs.
It’s included on the 1990 album of the same name, “Aku no Hana.”
It gives the impression that BUCK-TICK’s classic style—an up-tempo song paired with Atsushi Sakurai’s visuals and voice, along with Hisashi Imai’s tricky guitar—has been perfected here.
Partly because the visual image from that time was quite dark, many people also think of BUCK-TICK as a so-called “gothic” band.
There is also a poetry collection with the same title by the French poet Charles Baudelaire, but the relationship is unknown.
It’s a track that seems to have cemented the very image of BUCK-TICK that the public has—somewhat dark. This album also reached number one on the Oricon charts.
3.
die
It's a track included on the 1993 release 'darker than darkness -style93-'.
Around this time, BUCK-TICK began moving away from their public image and entered a period in which they released many works with a very dark and heavy style.
It’s a mid-tempo track where the contrast between the noisy electric guitar and the acoustic guitar is strikingly beautiful, but the lyrics are very dark, making it clear how BUCK-TICK at this time had moved toward a heavy, oppressive style.
What’s more, around this time the rhythm section was starting to shift from a vertical, 8-beat-driven feel to a more horizontal, 16-beat groove, so it’s interesting to compare the difference by listening alongside JUST ONE MORE KISS.
By the way, around this time Atsushi Sakurai had straight long hair and was so beautiful that he could be mistaken for a woman.
4.
A misunderstanding in trying to see the invisible—everything is a misunderstanding.
Released in 1995, it is included on the album Six/NiNe, which is said to be BUCK-TICK’s most problematic work.
Not only is the title long, but the relentlessly dark lyrics combined with extremely heavy riffs—and the languid feel of the rhythm—come together to create an extraordinarily dark track.
With no particularly exciting elements and lyrics that can even be taken as a self-dialogue being sung calmly up to the chorus, listening to it is sure to make you feel uneasy as well.
To begin with, the album itself reflects Atsushi Sakurai’s extremely dark state of mind, and perhaps as a result, the entire album is enveloped in a very heavy atmosphere.
5.
Heroine
It’s a song included on the 1997 album “SEXY STREAM LINER.”
If we’re talking about what defines this track, it’s definitely the drums—it’s clearly a piece that takes inspiration from drum and bass.
It’s a genre said to have originated in England in the early ’90s, and I’m simply blown away by the sensibility of so swiftly absorbing and expressing global trends in their music as early as 1997—when the internet could hardly be called fully developed.
Our club-music approach started with the introduction of a guitar synth and had been consistent ever since, but this album feels like we really went all in. Across the record, some tracks lean into techno, and we even created songs that practically don’t need drums at all. It hardly sounds like something a band would produce.
From this point on, BUCK-TICK began focusing on blending club and electronic music with a band sound, so instances of leaning entirely to one side became very rare. In that sense, “Heroine” is a valuable track that takes a specific, singular approach.
6.
From the Far East with love
This song is included on the 2002 album “Far East I LOVE YOU.”
This song is sometimes associated with being influenced by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, and its lyrics contain many highly symbolic lines in which you can sense their own messages here and there.
The sound itself is one of their earliest works that consciously pursued the fusion of club music and electronic music with an organic band sound—the direction they began aiming for from SEXY STREAM LINER onward—and it upholds what has become BUCK-TICK’s classic style: organic-sounding electronics overlaid with driving drums and guitar tones and phrases that feel mysterious.
By the way, at live shows they do some pretty free-spirited and interesting things, like shooting up pillars of fire and Imai using a theremin.
7.
wreckage
It is included on the 2003 album “Mona Lisa OVERDRIVE.”
Because of its extremely aggressive lyrics and brutal riffs, it makes a strong impact, so in fact it’s one of the rare BUCK-TICK songs that’s fairly easy to recommend even to beginners.
There are parts where the use of the first-person pronoun “ore” effectively adds a cool edge to the song, but above all, the intro and interlude riffs are extremely savage. Just listening to this track alone, the band has essentially become a different beast from their early days when they put out songs like JUST ONE MORE KISS.
This album employs a predominantly digital hardcore approach, which gives the tracks an intensely aggressive atmosphere throughout. Incidentally, it seems there were originally plans to release it together with the previous work, “Far East I LOVE YOU,” as a two-disc set.
The monochrome-themed PV looks really cool... but the live performance is also cool.
However, not limited to this song, Hisashi Imai doesn’t play exactly as on the CD, so in live performances you often hear phrases that differ from the CD.
In the music video for this song, he’s also holding an unusual guitar, so if you’ve seen a few of his videos, you’ll quickly come to recognize Imai Hisashi as “the guy with those weird guitars.”
7.
ROMANCE
It is included in “Jūsankai wa Gekkō” (The Thirteenth Floor Is Moonlight) from 2005.
After Aku no Hana, BUCK-TICK had long strayed from the gothic path, but this song marks their full-fledged return to that style. It’s also the track that led to vocalist Atsushi Sakurai being dubbed the “Demon King” on the internet.
The lyrics are utterly decadent, and while the guitar is orthodox, the lyrics and visuals fully draw out the song’s atmosphere. They truly showed later visual-kei bands what Gothic really is.
The gothic atmosphere of this song is carried over into 'The Thirteenth Floor Is Moonlight' as well, and throughout the entire piece it exudes a gothic, slightly circus-like vibe.
In this music video, Atsushi Sakurai looks absolutely gorgeous, so it’s a must-see.
8.
kiss
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8X2NXAKteE
A track included on the 2010 album RAZZLE DAZZLE. It served as the opening theme for the anime Shiki and became a catalyst for gaining new fans.
It expresses BUCK-TICK’s characteristically decadent aesthetic in both the music video and the lyrics, and it’s a track that succinctly captures the band’s appeal.
It’s astonishing that back in 2010—more than five years ago—they were already taking an approach that today’s young bands might use, with crunchy guitars and a four-on-the-floor drum focus.
The album is filled with tracks at danceable tempos from start to finish. That’s no surprise, since “RAZZLE DAZZLE” is an English word meaning “wild revelry,” and the songs develop dance music throughout the entire record.
By the way, the jacket for “RAZZLE DAZZLE” was an original illustration by Aquirax Uno, a renowned graphic designer who even worked with the poet and playwright Shuji Terayama.
9.
MISS TAKE ~I Am Miss Take~
It’s included on the 2012 album “Dreaming Universe.”
The musical approach itself is classic BUCK-TICK, but it goes at things a bit more straight-on than before. There aren’t any particularly unusual riffs, and it’s not a especially quirky song. For them, it’s quite simple. However, precisely because of that, it’s also a very highly polished track.
While featuring twin guitars, they don’t clearly divide the phrases between them; instead, they play in a unison-like manner to add thickness to the overall guitar sound. Kicking off the chorus with chord strumming instantly adds a sense of release, and including a rare guitar solo makes it a classic, straight-ahead rock track—one that I personally really like.
The lyrics—combined with the fact that the song was released after the Great East Japan Earthquake—seem to convey an indescribable poignancy, as well as a sense of resolve and strength behind it.
The album uses Gustav Klimt’s painting “Goldfish,” and the jacket is eye-catching.
Partly because it was created about a year after the earthquake disaster, many of the songs are influenced by it. The album feels somewhat introspective and raw, conveying both sorrow and light. Unusually for BUCK-TICK, there’s even a shoegaze-tinged track called “Yumemiru Uchuu” (“Dreaming Universe”).
10.
Metaphysical meteor
It is included on the 2014 album “Arui wa Anarchy.”
Since the album’s main theme was Surrealism, it ended up with a very conceptual feel.
With its highly effective use of electronic sounds, the contrast between arpeggios and a wistful vocal, and the sense of openness in the vocals and guitar during the chorus, this ballad adds beauty throughout the entire track. The synergy with lyrics that showcase BUCK-TICK’s characteristic way of confronting death at every turn is nothing short of breathtaking.
In the live performance, the way the electronic sounds resonate feels somewhat spacey, and the use of such heavily effected tones—hard to believe they’re from a guitar—makes for an arrangement true to the theme of surrealism, unconstrained by convention, which brings out the original song’s appeal to the fullest.
This is also true in their live performances, but the album “Arui wa Anarchy,” whose theme of Surrealism runs throughout, is perhaps the most artistic work in BUCK-TICK’s catalog. Among its tracks, the song “Untitled” in particular lets you glimpse BUCK-TICK’s sense of freedom and the very essence of the band.
11.
New World
A track included on their most recent album at the time, 2016’s “Atom Miraiha No.9.”
A dazzlingly positive, fast-paced song brimming with freshness that you wouldn’t expect from a band 30 years into their career; even after all this time, the fact that they can title it “New World” reflects an attitude that feels truly remarkable—it's a track full of hope.
The track itself seems to place importance on balancing electronic, electronica-style sounds with guitar, with neither taking a back seat—both are used as leading elements.
Especially in the chorus, the arrangement highlights electronic sounds rather than the guitar, and there are many lyrical expressions that convey a strong sense of positivity and strength.
Approaches and expressions that would likely have been impossible for the old BUCK-TICK fully showcase the weight of the years and the true value of a band that never stops evolving.
As for the album, there are fewer long tracks, but each song is diverse, giving the impression that many of the pieces are very bold and adventurous.
While 'Arui wa Anarchy' was highly artistic, in part thanks to its concept, this new work gives the impression that, by freely gathering songs with a variety of directions, it has ultimately taken on a single new direction.
In the PV, various edits such as frame-by-frame playback and fast-forwarding are applied, and key moments are spliced together to make the song more compelling.
Lastly
I’ve written at length up to this point, but since I really love BUCK-TICK, it was hard to narrow it down.
They were the best in the past, and they're the best right now too.
In today’s harsh music climate, where bands are breaking up or going on hiatus one after another, a group like BUCK-TICK is nothing short of a miracle, and the weight of their 30 years along with their fresh, vibrant songs never cease to captivate me.
I hope you all encounter music that feels that way.