After the release of Mellon Collie, the Pumpkins contributed multiple songs to various compilations. Released in early 1997, the song “Eye” relied almost exclusively on electronic instruments and signaled a drastic shift from the Pumpkins’ previous musical styles. At the time, Corgan stated his "idea [was] to reconfigure the focus and get away from the classic guitars-bass-drum rock format.” Later that year, the group contributed "The End is the Beginning is the End" to the soundtrack for the film Batman & Robin. With Matt Walker on drums, the song featured a heavy sound similar to "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" while still having strong electronic influences. The song later won the 1998 Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. Though Corgan announced that the song represented the sound people could expect from the band in the future, the band’s next album would feature few guitar driven songs.
Recorded following the death of Corgan's mother and his divorce, 1998's Adore represented a significant change of style from the Pumpkins' previous guitar-based rock, veering into electronica. The record, cut with assistance from studio drummers and drum machines, was infused with a darker aesthetic than much of the band's earlier work. The group also modified its public image, shedding its alternative hipster look for a more subdued appearance. Although Adore received favorable reviews and was nominated for Best Alternative Performance at the Grammy Awards, the album had only sold about 830,000 copies in the United States by the end of the year, which lead the music industry to consider it a failure. The album nonetheless sold three times as many copies overseas. On June 30, 1998, the band embarked on a seventeen-date, fifteen-city charity American tour in support of Adore. At each stop on the tour, the band donated 100 percent of tickets sales to a local charity organization. The tour's expenses were entirely funded out of the band's own pockets. All told, the band donated over $2.8 million to charity as a result of the tour.
In 1999, the band surprised fans by reuniting with a rehabilitated Jimmy Chamberlin for a brief tour dubbed "The Arising," which showcased both new and classic material. The lineup was short-lived, however, as upon the completion of the album Machina/The Machines of God, the band announced the departure of Wretzky in September. Former Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur was recruited for the "Sacred and Profane" tour in support of the album and appeared in the videos accompanying its release. Released in 2000, Machina was initially promoted as the Pumpkins' return to a more traditional rock sound, after the more gothic, electronic-sounding Adore. The album debuted at number three on the Billboard charts, but quickly disappeared and as of 2007 has only been certified gold. Music journalist Jim DeRogatis, who described the album as "one of the strongest of their career," noted that the stalled sales for Machina in comparison to teen pop ascendant at the time "seems like concrete proof that a new wave of young pop fans has turned a deaf ear toward alternative rock."
On May 23, 2000, in a live radio interview on KROQ-FM (Los Angeles), 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. This is the only Smashing Pumpkins studio album that is not under an EMI-owned record label. 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.
source: Wikipedia