In a new Instagram post, Billy Corgan detailed the short lived 1999 reformation of the original Smashing Pumpkins lineup, and the meeting they had to agree to break up the band following a new album and tour. D’arcy Wretzky would exit the band before the completion of MACHINA, and Melissa auf der Maur replaced her on tour. The Arising! Tour in spring 1999 ended up being the original lineup’s final tour, as the long rumored original lineup reunion failed to materialize this year.
“Happy Halloween! Though I made scant reference to it the other day, it was 20 years ago on this date (Oct 31st, 1998) that The Smashing Pumpkins (with drummer Kenny Aronoff and pianist Mike Garson) opened for Kiss at Dodger Stadium; a gig which, for a variety of reasons better saved for a book, propelled the reformation of OG SP; as I met the following morning with Jimmy Chamberlin (@chamberdrums) at the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood and asked him to return to the band for one last album. Which prompted a meeting at our rehearsal space/studio Pumpkinland where we agreed on a few points
1/ The band would get back together in full starting in January of ’99, with no outside help (meaning other musicians) to record a final album (and thus fulfill our contractual obligation to Virgin Records)
2/ the album, as yet to be written, would be conceptual in nature, where each of us would play a garish, cartoonish version of our public personae to both invite controversy and curiousity
3/ The recording and touring would take no longer that two years, so that all might be free from any obligation to one another to start the year 2001.
The work that came from those decisions, #MACHINA (some 60 or so songs, perhaps more depending how you tally), would, as of this date, never be completed in full, and collapsing under it’s own weight I cut the sessions short due to impending tour obligations and released Machina 1/The Machines of God; it’s narrative form unexplained simply because only a 1/3 of it’s songs were made available and certainly the album as it stood couldn’t fully explain what was an overly ambitious and unfinished rock opera.
With touring, the remaining members quickly abandoned the agreed upon conceptual / performance aspects, leaving me to play my character alone, much to the consternation of fans and media alike. Still, I learned much in the touring year of 2000 about the songs of Machina, and by the end of the year, as the band rehearsed for its final 2 shows in Chicago, producer Howard Willing and I worked at night to finish whatever was left. Which brought about the free, internet-based release of Machina 2 and a farewell single, ‘Untitled ‘. @smashingpumpkins.”
