The news came May 23 during an on-air interview with KROQ radio in Los Angeles.

“… It’s true I am here to finally announce that the band is going to break up at the end of the year,” Corgan said.

The last U.S. date of the band’s current Sacred and Profane tour is May 30 in Portland, Ore. An eight-show tour of Japan follows, after that, Corgan said the band will tour in Europe.

He said The Pumpkins would like to do a “see you later, farewell, sayonara” tour at the end of the year, but no plans have been made for a grand goodbye.

The split was apparently inevitable. The band has survived the death of touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin, the heroin addiction and recovery of drummer Jimmy Chamberlain, the departure of bassist D’arcy Wretzky, record label lawsuits, and well-publicized splits with managers.

At the same time, the artfully-crafted arena rock the band produced had become a victim of new music trends and The Pumpkins saw its popularity drop as teen pop stars and downtuned hard rock climbed the charts.

“…There’s nothing wrong inside the band, but the way the culture is … it’s really hard to … keep trying to fight the good fight against the Britneys of the world,” Corgan said.

By the time the latest album MACHINA/the machines of God, was released, the bandmates knew their time together was coming to a close.

“We felt that before the start of this album that we had sort of come to the end of our road – emotionally, spiritually, musically,” Corgan told the KROQ audience. “So we wanted to make one more album together. That was the intention of getting Jimmy [Chamberlain] back in the band was to make one more album and sort of end on a good note – you know – between each other, more importantly than the public part of it.”

Corgan said a new album of material left over from the MACHINA/the machines of God recording sessions may be released, but he had no time-frame for that project, saying it could be a couple of years.

In the wake of the news, fans were very vocal in their expectations that Corgan and guitarist James Iha will continue to make music.

Bassist Wretzky left the band earlier this year and Chamberlain reportedly wants to pursue a career in auto racing.