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.
Trigger
BUCK-TICK Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Usugitanai ore wa buta haiena domo ga shaburu
Te ni shita mono uso to niku yodaremamire no karada kurae
AH-WOO
Anta no me ga ore wo yaru ore wa hajikeru TRIGGER
Chi ga ore no tomo yatsu wa kou iu
"mogakiagake shinu made haitsukubare"
AH-WOO
Ore mo omae mo yume no ato ushinau mono ga doko ni aru
Shi ga ore no tomo yatsu wa kou iu
"ore wa koko de omae wo machitsuzukeru"
AH-WOO
Ore mo omae mo yume no ato ushinau mono ga doko ni aru
Ore mo omae mo yume no ato ushinau mono ga doko ni aru
The lyrics of BUCK-TICK's song "TRIGGER" are cryptic and open to interpretation, but they convey a sense of loss and desperation. The repeating line "Ore mo omae mo yume no ato ushinau mono ga doko ni aru" (Where are the things we lose after dreaming, both you and I?) suggests a feeling of emptiness and yearning for something that has been lost. The imagery of pigs and meat in the lines "Usugitanai ore wa buta haiena domo ga shaburu/Te ni shita mono uso to niku yodaremamire no karada kurae" can be interpreted as a commentary on the objectification and commodification of human bodies, as well as a reflection on our own mortality.
The chorus, with its howling "AH-WOO" and the lines "Anta no me ga ore wo yaru ore wa hajikeru TRIGGER/Bubetsu to tsuba hakikakete nouten tsuranuiteiku yokubou" (Your eyes give me the trigger, I'll explode/The separate drops pierce my desire) seems to express a desire for release and escape, but at the cost of something dear.
The final lines of the song, "Shi ga ore no tomo yatsu wa kou iu/'ore wa koko de omae wo machitsuzukeru'" (My dead friend says/'I will wait for you here') add an even more melancholic note to the song, as the singer seems to be speaking to a deceased friend, and suggests a sense of inevitability and hopelessness.
Line by Line Meaning
Ore mo omae mo yume no ato ushinau mono ga doko ni aru
Where do the things we lose after dreaming go? This applies to both me and you.
Usugitanai ore wa buta haiena domo ga shaburu
I, who am not graceful, am surrounded by vulgar and noisy people.
Te ni shita mono uso to niku yodaremamire no karada kurae
Embrace the body that is covered in lies and filth which I held in my hands.
AH-WOO
Howling sound effect.
Anta no me ga ore wo yaru ore wa hajikeru TRIGGER
Your gaze triggers me to explode.
Bubetsu to tsuba hakikakete nouten tsuranuiteiku yokubou
Desire pierces through discrimination and spits out saliva.
Chi ga ore no tomo yatsu wa kou iu
My friend whose blood runs like mine says this:
"mogakiagake shinu made haitsukubare"
"Struggle and climb until you are cornered to death."
Ore mo omae mo yume no ato ushinau mono ga doko ni aru
Where do the things we lose after dreaming go? This applies to both me and you.
Shi ga ore no tomo yatsu wa kou iu
My friend whose death I mourn says this:
"ore wa koko de omae wo machitsuzukeru"
"I will keep waiting for you here."
AH-WOO
Howling sound effect.
Ore mo omae mo yume no ato ushinau mono ga doko ni aru
Where do the things we lose after dreaming go? This applies to both me and you.
Contributed by Christian T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.