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-four singles as of 2024, 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.

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.

Imai named their band Hinan Go-Go (非難GO-GO; "Criticism Go-Go") 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 "bakuchiku" (爆竹), 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.

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 Sawaki Kazuo, head of Taiyou 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 Taiyou Records immediately and released their debut single, "To-Search" on October 21 of the same year.