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alchemicinkI read on ANN earlier today that the lead singer of Buck-tick passed away last week. Sakurai Atsushi was 57.
Back when I was first getting into Japanese music around 2005, 2006ish, I was drawn to Visual Kei especially. And Buck-tick was one of the pioneers of the genre, having been active since the 1980s.
I was first introduced to the band's music because they did the opening to Trinity Blood, a weird anime about Catholic vampires (😂) that I was watching at the time.
The song was called Dress.
As a teenager, I remember being enthralled by Atsushi's long hair in the video. I was always drawn to anything that didn't fall into the strict gender norms that most people adhered to in my rural area. So to see a musician I liked with long hair like me was very memorable. Additionally, there's a lyric in Dress which translates to "shall I put on a dress and dance for you?" To hear that line from a male singer really meant something to me, even as a teenager who didn't quite understand anything about queerness yet.
So Buck-tick stuck around as one of the groups my high school friends and I would listen to. I remember pulling up the video for Love Letter to introduce the band to other people.
The music video was just so funny, with the band just playing around the whole time. You can tell they must have had fun filming it.
With the lyrics being in English, we always had fun singing "I'm just a simple madness man" over and over again, trying to imitate the same gruffness of Atsushi.
One of my favorite music videos ever is Kuchizuke.
It's just very cinematic to me, especially with the camera pans and video overlays. Random things on fire. The dancer on the table.
And through it all, Atsushi's deadpan serious expression. I loved the contrast. It still cracks me up when he tosses the flowers away without missing a beat.
As with most of the Japanese music I listen to, I didn't keep up with the group consistently over the years. But I knew they were still active. In fact, they released an album just earlier this year. And they were performing on the day Atsushi passed.
It's sad to see a band who's been together for 40 years unexpectedly lose their lead singer. Whatever they choose to do next, we will always have the mountain of work Atsushi left behind to enjoy for years to come.
I will wrap this up with one more video: TMR and his side band, abingdon boys school, recorded a cover of Dress a few years ago. And at this particular concert performance, Atsushi came on stage to sing alongside TMR. It's a lovely performance, and you can tell how much TMR enjoyed singing alongside his friend.
RIP Sakurai Atsushi
Back when I was first getting into Japanese music around 2005, 2006ish, I was drawn to Visual Kei especially. And Buck-tick was one of the pioneers of the genre, having been active since the 1980s.
I was first introduced to the band's music because they did the opening to Trinity Blood, a weird anime about Catholic vampires (😂) that I was watching at the time.
The song was called Dress.
As a teenager, I remember being enthralled by Atsushi's long hair in the video. I was always drawn to anything that didn't fall into the strict gender norms that most people adhered to in my rural area. So to see a musician I liked with long hair like me was very memorable. Additionally, there's a lyric in Dress which translates to "shall I put on a dress and dance for you?" To hear that line from a male singer really meant something to me, even as a teenager who didn't quite understand anything about queerness yet.
So Buck-tick stuck around as one of the groups my high school friends and I would listen to. I remember pulling up the video for Love Letter to introduce the band to other people.
The music video was just so funny, with the band just playing around the whole time. You can tell they must have had fun filming it.
With the lyrics being in English, we always had fun singing "I'm just a simple madness man" over and over again, trying to imitate the same gruffness of Atsushi.
One of my favorite music videos ever is Kuchizuke.
It's just very cinematic to me, especially with the camera pans and video overlays. Random things on fire. The dancer on the table.
And through it all, Atsushi's deadpan serious expression. I loved the contrast. It still cracks me up when he tosses the flowers away without missing a beat.
As with most of the Japanese music I listen to, I didn't keep up with the group consistently over the years. But I knew they were still active. In fact, they released an album just earlier this year. And they were performing on the day Atsushi passed.
It's sad to see a band who's been together for 40 years unexpectedly lose their lead singer. Whatever they choose to do next, we will always have the mountain of work Atsushi left behind to enjoy for years to come.
I will wrap this up with one more video: TMR and his side band, abingdon boys school, recorded a cover of Dress a few years ago. And at this particular concert performance, Atsushi came on stage to sing alongside TMR. It's a lovely performance, and you can tell how much TMR enjoyed singing alongside his friend.
RIP Sakurai Atsushi
