Buck-Tick (stylized as BUCK∞TICK) is a Japanese rock band formed in Fujioka, Gunma in 1983. The classic lineup of lead vocalist Atsushi Sakurai, lead guitarist Hisashi Imai, rhythm guitarist Hidehiko Hoshino, bassist Yutaka Higuchi and drummer Toll Yagami lasted from 1985 until 2023. Following Sakurai's death that year, Imai and Hoshino began sharing lead vocal duties. The band has experimented with many different genres of music throughout their four decade career, including punk rock, gothic rock and industrial rock. Buck-Tick are commonly credited as one of the main founders of the visual kei movement.
The band has released twenty-four studio albums and forty-six singles as of February 2026, nearly all reaching the top ten and twenty positions on the Japanese Oricon charts. Buck-Tick released both their debut independent and major studio albums in 1987, and achieved breakthrough success the following year with the album Seventh Heaven (#3) and the single "Just One More Kiss". In 1989, Taboo became their first number-one album. It was followed by several successful albums almost all of which topped the charts, Aku no Hana (1990, which includes the song of the same name; the band's only number-one single), Kurutta Taiyou (1991), Darker Than Darkness: Style 93 (1993), Six/Nine (1995), as well as the remixed album Hurry Up Mode (1990 Mix) and the compilation album Koroshi no Shirabe: This Is Not Greatest Hits (1992).
Buck-Tick reached their commercial peak in the mid-1990s (when they were dubbed a "top rock act" by Billboard), but unlike other acts in the visual kei movement, they never ceased activities or faded into obscurity. The band has continued to tour and record regularly in the subsequent decades, and their last five studio albums between Arui wa Anarchy (2014) and Izora (2023) all reached the top six positions on the Oricon and Billboard Japan charts, making them a rare example in Japanese music history and earning them a special "Inspiration Award Japan" at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards Japan.
History
1983–1985: Formation Buck-Tick was formed in Gunma Prefecture in 1983. Hisashi Imai had the original idea for the band, despite not being able to play any instruments at the time. He recruited his friend, Yutaka Higuchi, and the two of them began to practice—Imai on guitar and Higuchi on bass. Then, Higuchi asked Hidehiko Hoshino, who had been his friend since their first year of high school, to join. Higuchi tried to convince Hoshino to become the vocalist because of his looks, but Hoshino was more interested in playing the guitar, and did not want to be in the spotlight, so Imai's friend Araki became the vocalist instead. Atsushi Sakurai, a rebellious loner in Imai's class who hung out with the bad-kid yankī crowd, volunteered to be the drummer. The members all went to Gunma Kenritsu Fujioka High School, the same high school that Kyosuke Himuro of fellow Gunma band Boøwy had attended.Gunma Television Interview with Atsushi Sakurai, aired April 3, 2005.
Imai named their band in the spring of 1984. Once they had practiced enough to be able to play, they began to perform live at small, local events. They started out playing covers of songs by the famous Japanese punk band The Stalin. From the beginning, they were conscious of their image and tried to differentiate themselves from other bands. They performed in suits with their hair up and soon added white face makeup, as well.
When Imai graduated high school, he moved to Tokyo with Araki and enrolled in a design school. Sakurai's parents would not let him move to the capital. However, Imai and Araki returned home on weekends for band practice. During the summer of 1984, Hinan Go-Go changed their name to Buck-Tick, which is a creative spelling of , the Japanese word for firecracker. They also began to write original songs, most written by Imai and a few by Hoshino. When Higuchi and Hoshino graduated in 1985, they also moved to Tokyo—Higuchi for business school and Hoshino for culinary school. The band's first concert under their new name was on August 4, 1985 at Shinjuku Jam in Tokyo.
But drummer Sakurai had his mind set on becoming a singer. Higuchi's brother Toll Yagami was in a band called SP, and when they lost their vocalist, Sakurai asked Yagami if he could be the replacement. Yagami politely refused his request, and SP broke up. However, at the same time, the rest of Buck-Tick were becoming frustrated with Araki. As Imai's composing skills improved, Araki became unable to carry the melodies to the songs. The band decided to fire Araki, his last concert was an event titled Beat for Beat for Beat Vol. 1 in November 1985, and Sakurai convinced them to accept him as their vocalist. Higuchi convinced Yagami that the best way for him to get over the loss of his own band was to join theirs instead, thus Toll took Sakurai's place behind the drums, completing Buck-Tick's classic lineup. The new lineup had their first concert at Beat for Beat for Beat Vol. 2 at Shinjuku Jam in December 1985.
1985–1988: Independent period and major label debut
When Sakurai's father died, he too moved to Tokyo and Buck-Tick became more serious about music. The five members worked during the day and practiced and performed at night. In July 1986, they attracted the attention of Kazuo Sawaki, head of Taiyo Records, an independent label. He had seen the band perform at a live house called Shinjuku Attic, and had been very impressed. The band signed to Taiyo immediately and released their debut single, "To-Search" on October 21 of the same year.
With Sawaki's help they began promoting themselves very actively, playing the live house circuit in Tokyo. On April 1, 1987, the band released their first album, Hurry Up Mode. In conjunction with its release, they played a concert titled at Toshima Public Hall in Ikebukuro that same day. Everyone in the local music scene believed the hall was too large for the band and that the concert would be doomed to failure, but Buck-Tick used an advertising strategy that involved pasting thousands of eye-catching, black-and-white sticker advertisements all over Tokyo's hip youth districts that read simply "Buck-Tick Phenomenon April 1st Toshima Public Hall". Their staff members were nearly arrested for defacement of public property. But the strategy worked, as Buck-Tick sold 400 tickets in advance, and another 400 on the day of the show. After this success, major labels began to be interested in the band.
Although major labels had begun scouting the band, Buck-Tick wanted to continue pursuing music on their own terms and refused to sign unless the label would agree to their four conditions: first, that the band would be able to make their own decisions about their hair, makeup, clothing, and general image; second, that they would never be forced to change the band lineup; third, that they would never be forced to use session musicians for recordings; and last, that they would be able to do all of their own production work.Picture Product disc 3: "Sen-Sor", directed by Takashi Musha & Yuko Sakurai, Victor Entertainment, 2002. Most record companies refused the idea of accepting such demands from a new band, but Junichi Tanaka of Victor Entertainment decided to accept their terms. He did so after attending the Buck-Tick Phenomenon concert. Tanaka later described his initial impression of them after first seeing them perform at the Taiyo Matsuri in September 1986; "I was more attracted to Buck-Tick than any other band I saw at the time, even though they were the worst of all the bands I saw." Additionally, Takeshi Takagaki of Victor Invitation offered them the company's Aoyama studio as a place to practice.
On June 16, 1987, the band held Buck-Tick Phenomenon II at the Live Inn in Shibuya to bid farewell to their indie days. A home video of the concert, Buck-Tick Phenomenon Live at the Live Inn, was later released on September 21 as their major label debut, reaching No. 4 on the Oricon video charts. On September 3, Buck-Tick opened their personal administrative office, which they named Shaking Hands, Inc., in honor of all the musical connections they hoped to make in the future. Soon after, they embarked on their first national tour. They released their first major label album, Sexual XXXXX! on November 21, and it climbed to No. 33 on the Oricon charts. Although a good result for a new band, the album was not well-received and the group also faced accusations of "selling out".
Buck-Tick had become popular enough that they could only play at large halls now. They missed small live houses, so they organized a secret gig under the false name "Bluck-Tlick" at Shinjuku Loft on January 24, 1988. The alias was taken from a shōjo manga that was based on themselves, and they used it as an opportunity to play their older songs. They released the EP Romanesque on March 21. Having now recorded all of the songs they had, production of their third studio album was more difficult. However, Seventh Heaven peaked at number three on the chart when it was released on June 21, 1988. It was Tanaka's idea to release three albums and no singles in their first two years at Victor.
1988–1990: Taboo, brief hiatus, and Aku no Hana
Buck-Tick's first major label single "Just One More Kiss", became their first hit in October 1988. The band made their first live television appearance the following month performing it on the popular music program Music Station. The song was also used in a series of television commercials in which the band appeared advertising Victor's CDian Stereo, with the slogan "The super bass will firecracker" (a pun on Buck-Tick's name, which means "firecracker"). The lengthy Seventh Heaven tour also began in October and ran until the end of December. It was on this tour that the band became conscious of their stage shows, and the first where they employed stage risers so that each member could be seen from a distance. At the end of the year, Buck-Tick were one of the recipients of the Newcomer Award at the 30th Japan Record Awards,Buck-Tick at CD Journal Retrieved Aug 26 2007 which also made them nominees for Best New Artist.
Taboo, the band's fourth studio album, was previously recorded in London in September 1988 with producer Owen Paul. The band had also played a gig there, at the Greyhound music club, and amongst those who attended were members of the band Der Zibet, who were also recording in London at the time. The members of Buck-Tick loved London, especially Sakurai, who felt that the music scene there was more welcoming of dark and serious music.Words by Buck-Tick, Shinko Music Publishing Company, Ltd. 2002. . English translation of 1994 interview with Atsushi Sakurai and Issay available here With the album, the band broke into a darker, more serious sound which took a fair amount of criticism from members of the Japanese music scene who had previously thought of Buck-Tick as little more than idols. However, it became the band's first to reach number one on the charts when it was released on January 18, 1989. The following two days marked the end of the Seventh Heaven tour with the band's first concerts at the Nippon Budokan, which were recorded for the two-part concert video Sabbat.