The band members are 櫻井敦司 (Sakurai Atsushi) (vocals), 今井寿 (Imai Hisashi) (guitars, noises, electronics, vocals), 星野英彦 (Hoshino Hidehiko) (guitars, chorus), 桶口豊 (Higuchi Yutaka) (bass) and ヤガミ・トール (Yagami Toll) (drums).
BUCK-TICK's music has changed and evolved hugely over the course of their career. Their early work is what the Japanese call "positive punk". It used simple rhythms and chords, with the songs mostly in major keys and using some English words in the lyrics. Starting with 1989's TABOO, they experimented with a darker sound, which grew more mature with 狂った太陽 in 1991. darker than darkness style 93 delved into a harsher industrial rock sound which continued all the way up through Mona Lisa OVERDRIVE in 2003. With 2005's 十三階は月光, they deliberately adopted a "goth" concept, which they combined with a retro straight rock sound for the albums 天使のリボルバー (2007) and Memento Mori (2009). Their next album, 2010's RAZZLE DAZZLE, then incorporated many instances of dance-rock.
Some elements that persist throughout their music are resounding, jangling guitar chords, throbbing, prominent bass lines, harsh roars of electronically distorted noise, and ambivalent melodies that wander between major and minor keys, as well as Sakurai's distinctive rich baritone voice. Jrockrevolution described the band's style as having gone "from the bubbly sounds of pop to the buzz of electronic cyberpunk to lustful velvety goth to the smooth style of hard rock and back again". Sakurai, who is the main lyricist of the band, is famous for the erotic decadence of his lyrics, but he also often addresses existential psychological themes. His lyrics is also described as "dance in a daydream about reality". Imai, the main composer, has written many songs that read like science fiction stories, involving genetic engineering and computer hackers, but more recently has branched out into love songs.
As Josephine Yun describes them, in 'A Concise Report on 40 of the Biggest Rock Acts in Japan', "BUCK-TICK's music is smashed-together nuances of everything from Depeche Mode and New Order to U2 and The Knack. While wry, it can float and be nebulously melodic. [...] Masked in eye makeup, Atsushi looks and sounds possessed. BUCK-TICK was (and continues to be) and anomaly in the Japanese music scene, a tangle of goth rock diluted with synth and electronica. It's unhappy, dirty music, the musical equivalent of exploded soot and smoke."
BUCK-TICK and their members have performed with, for example, KMFDM, Soft Ballet, Luna Sea, Sheena Ringo, and The Yellow Monkey. The band members have also participated in different side-projects, such as Schaft, Schwein (Sakurai and Imai with Raymond Watts (PIG) and Sascha Konietzko (KMFDM)), and The Mortal.
モンタージュ
BUCK-TICK Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
いっそ ただ 影のよう 消し去って かまわない
僕ら 地獄みたいな熱で
僕ら みんな蒸発させて
僕ら・・僕ら・・
透ける皮膚 血の管 咬みついて 放さない
僕ら 蛇行の巣で絡み合う
解けない 疑惑のオズワルド
ねえ 知らないだろう ほら 終わらない黒を
闇より 深い 暗い 暗い 闇を
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah!
何もかも溶け出して
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah!
抱き合いたい 雑ざり合いたい Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah
僕ら 蛇行の巣で絡み合う
解けない 疑惑のオズワルド
僕ら まるでモンタージュみたい
僕ら 雑ざり合い君がいない
ねえ 知らないだろう ほら 終わらない黒を
闇より 深い 暗い 暗い 闇を
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah!
何もかも溶け出して
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah!
抱き合いたい 雑ざり合いたい
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah!
何もかも溶け出して
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah!
抱き合いたい 愛し合いたい
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah!
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah!
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah!
降り注ぐ太陽 眩しくて たまらない
いっそ 僕 影のよう モンタージュ もういない
抱き合いたい 雑ざり合いたい
The lyrics to BUCK-TICK's song "Montage" express a desire to escape from a world that is too bright, too hot, and too tangled up with the doubts and fears that plague people. The opening lines paint a picture of a scorching sun that is blindingly bright and overwhelming, leading the singer to wish that they could simply disappear like a shadow. The following lines suggest that everyone is consumed by the intense heat and has evaporated, leaving the singer alone in a world that is suffocatingly hot.
Line by Line Meaning
降り注ぐ太陽 眩しくて たまらない
The shining sun is too bright for me to bear
いっそ ただ 影のよう 消し去って かまわない
I wish to just disappear like a shadow, without hesitation
僕ら 地獄みたいな熱で
We are burning up in a hellish heat
僕ら みんな蒸発させて
We are all evaporating
僕ら・・僕ら・・
We are...we are...
透ける皮膚 血の管 咬みついて 放さない
Our transparent skin, with blood vessels that won't let go once they bite
縺れたら 解けない もう二度と 解けない
Once tangled, it can't be untangled again
僕ら 蛇行の巣で絡み合う
We are entangled in a nest of twists and turns
解けない 疑惑のオズワルド
The unsolvable doubts like Oswald's
ねえ 知らないだろう ほら 終わらない黒を
Hey, did you know? Look at the endless darkness
闇より 深い 暗い 暗い 闇を
Deeper and darker than the darkness
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah!
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah!
何もかも溶け出して
Everything is melting away
抱き合いたい 雑ざり合いたい Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah
I want to hold you, I want to be together in a mess yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
僕ら まるでモンタージュみたい
We are like a montage
僕ら 雑ざり合い君がいない
We are together, but you are not here
抱き合いたい 雑ざり合いたい
I want to hold you, I want to be together in a mess
何もかも溶け出して
Everything is melting away
抱き合いたい 愛し合いたい
I want to hold you, I want to love you
降り注ぐ太陽 眩しくて たまらない
The shining sun is too bright for me to bear
いっそ 僕 影のよう モンタージュ もういない
I wish to just disappear like a shadow, and the montage is no longer here
Contributed by Alyssa S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.