The Smashing Pumpkins break up

On May 23, 2000, in a live radio interview on KROQ (Los Angeles), The Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan announced the band's decision to break up at the end of that year following additional touring and recording.

The group's final album before the break-up, MACHINA II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music, was released in September 2000 in a limited pressing on vinyl with permission and instructions for free redistribution on the Internet by fans. Only twenty-five copies were cut, each of which was hand numbered and given to friends of the band along with band members themselves. The album, released under the Constantinople Records label created by Corgan, consisted of one double LP and three ten-inch EPs. Originally, the band asked Virgin to offer MACHINA II as a free download to anyone who bought MACHINA. When the record label declined, Corgan opted to release the material independently.

On December 2, 2000, The Smashing Pumpkins played a farewell concert at The Metro, the same Chicago club where their career had effectively started twelve years earlier. The four-hour-long show featured 35 songs spanning the group's career, and attendees were given a recording of the band’s first concert at The Metro, Live at Cabaret Metro 10-5-88. The single "Untitled" was released commercially to coincide with the farewell show.