It's truly been smashing. But after more than a decade of lineup changes, infighting, drug problems--oh, and some of the most influential music of the '90s--the Smashing Pumpkins are calling it quits.
Frontman and Pumpkins founder Billy Corgan dropped the bombshell today during a live interview with L.A.'s modern-rock radio station KROQ. Reps for the band say they weren't expecting the announcement, but Corgan says the group knew its latest album, Machina: The Machines of God, would be its last.
"There's nothing wrong inside the band," Corgan said, before taking a rock 'n' roll swipe at the current wave of bubble-gum pop. "But the way the culture is and stuff, it's hard to keep trying to fight the good fight against the Britneys."
The Pumpkins are scheduled to play in Los Angeles tonight, and the "Sacred and Profane Tour 2000" wraps its U.S. leg in Portland May 30 before moving on to Japan through June 30.
Corgan said there may be a farewell U.S. tour before it's all over.
He also added that the band will likely release additional material from the Machina sessions, and it will tape a session of VH1's Storytellers in August.
"It is a weight lifted off my shoulders," he said. "I feel like I've been walking around with this weird secret. I think deep down our fans really knew that this was the end."
The Pumpkins were formed in 1989 as a duo with Corgan and former bassist D'Arcy Wretzky. They soon added guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, and the band released its first album, Gish, in 1991. The album became a college-rock fave, eventually selling more than 350,000 copies.
Its first major-label effort, 1993's Siamese Dream, on Virgin Records, turned the band into alt-rock megastars when grunge guitar rock was in its heyday. The Pumpkins followed up with Pisces Iscariot in 1994, and 1995's hugely popular double album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, which featured hits like "Tonight, Tonight" and "1979."
During that time, the Pumpkins were faced with the drug-overdose death of touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin, followed by the firing of Chamberlin, who battled his own drug problems. Chamberlin later rejoined the band--right before Wretzky called it quits.
The news also comes during some turbulent times for both current and former bandmates. The Pumpkins were the target of a lawsuit filed Monday by a man who claimed the group's Vieuphoria music video was stolen from him.
The band also has other legal worries, including a lawsuit it filed against ex-manager Sharon Osbourne (the wife of metal-head Ozzy Osbourne) for fraud and breach of contract. She ditched the Pumpkins in January, saying in a near-legendary statement: "I must resign today, due to medical reasons--Billy Corgan was making me sick!"
Meanwhile, Wretzky was cleared of crack-possession charges last week after she completed a court-ordered drug-prevention class. She still maintains her innocence.