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.
ROMANCE
BUCK-TICK Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
光る産毛に ただ見とれていた
眠り続けている 君の夢へ
黒いドレスで待っていて欲しい
ああ 君の首筋に深く愛 突き刺す
ああ 僕の血と混ざり合い
夜を駆けよう
月夜の花嫁
花を飾ろう 綺麗な花を
ああ そしてひとつは君の瞼の横に
ああ そしてひとつは
君の死の窓辺に
闇夜の花嫁
ああ こんなに麗しい
跪き祈りの歌を
ああ いつしか腐りゆく
跡形も無く消えてゆくRomance.
ああ そして最後の場面が今始まる
ああ 君のナイフが
僕の胸に食い込む
そう深く... さあ深く
ああ こんなに麗しい
跪き祈りの歌を
ああ 今夜も血が欲しい
闇をゆき闇に溶け込む
ああ こんなに麗しい
跪き祈りの歌を
ああ いつしか腐りゆく
跡形も無く消えてゆく
The lyrics of BUCK-TICK's song "Romance" describe a hauntingly beautiful scene under the moonlight where the singer is entranced by the shimmering hair on the sleeping person they love. They express a desire to join the person in their dreams, asking them to wait for them in a black dress. The singer's love for this person is so deep that they want to pierce their neck with their own blood, and then run together under the night sky as a bride and groom of the moon. They imagine decorating the scene with beautiful flowers, placing one beside their lover's eyelids and another at their deathbed. The song then takes a dark, unexpected turn as the singer visualizes their lover stabbing them in the chest with a knife causing their romance to fade away into nothingness.
The lyrics of "Romance" are highly symbolic as the moon may represent the mysterious and elusive nature of love, while the flowers and black dress can be associated with death, pain, or mourning. The lyrics suggest that the romance they share is bound to turn into nothingness eventually, just as flowers wither and die after a certain period. The song creates a melancholic, haunting aura that provokes deeper thoughts about love, life, and death.
Line by Line Meaning
月明かりだけに 許された
The only thing allowed in the moonlight is to be mesmerized by the shining hair on your skin.
光る産毛に ただ見とれていた
I was simply captivated by the glowing down on your skin.
眠り続けている 君の夢へ
I want to wait for you, who continues to sleep, in your dreams.
黒いドレスで待っていて欲しい
I want you to wait for me in a black dress.
ああ 君の首筋に深く愛 突き刺す
Ah, I deeply pierce my love into your neck.
ああ 僕の血と混ざり合い
Ah, blending with my blood.
夜を駆けよう
Let's race through the night.
月夜の花嫁
The bride of the moonlit night.
天使が見ているから 月を消して
Because the angels are watching, let's extinguish the moon.
花を飾ろう 綺麗な花を
Let's adorn with beautiful flowers.
ああ そしてひとつは君の瞼の横に
Ah, and one of them next to your eyelids.
ああ そしてひとつは
君の死の窓辺に
Ah, and one of them at the window of your death.
闇夜の花嫁
The bride of the midnight darkness.
ああ こんなに麗しい
跪き祈りの歌を
Ah, such a beautiful song of kneeling and praying.
ああ いつしか腐りゆく
跡形も無く消えてゆくRomance.
Ah, someday it will rot away, disappearing without a trace, this Romance.
ああ そして最後の場面が今始まる
Ah, and now the final scene begins.
ああ 君のナイフが
僕の胸に食い込む
そう深く... さあ深く
Ah, your knife penetrates deeply into my chest, yes, deeper and deeper.
ああ 今夜も血が欲しい
闇をゆき闇に溶け込む
Ah, I want blood tonight again, melting into the darkness.
ああ いつしか腐りゆく
跡形も無く消えてゆく
Ah, someday it will rot away, disappearing without a trace.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: 櫻井敦司
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind