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By far, the rarest full length Smashing Pumpkins album in existence is Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music.

Back in 2000, Virgin Records had the option of putting it in stores, but they passed on the opportunity since the band’s last couple of albums, 1998’s Adore and 2000’s Machina/The Machines of God, hadn’t done so well.

So, here’s what the band did: they finished up the tracks, printed twenty-five sets (double LPs packaged with three EPs) and gave them away to close friends and some fans in the online Smashing Pumpkins community. Next thing you know, the songs are available online for anyone who wants to download them.

Interestingly, Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music got more attention and was better received by fans and critics alike than the Pumpkins’ most recent efforts had been. The unconventional release method might have had at least something to do with that.

Oh, by the way, as part of the Pumpkins reissue campaign, Machina II will get its first commercial release, on CD and vinyl, in 2013. It’ll be bundled with copies of the remasterd Machina.