Why didn’t TLC release music between 1996 and 1999?

Three years isn't that long (though it was longer back then) They were trying to work their way out of their shitty record deal, among other issues.

Their follow up was huge. Fanmail sold 6 million. Half of CrazySexyCool, but still huge.

Weren't they fighting with their manager, Pebbles, at the time?

Yes. They had a terrible deal. Plus Left Eye had burned down her abusive boyfriend's house. Drama. It's not really hard to see why they didn't release music. Plus, I assume they toured CSC for part of that three years.

The Learning Channel released music?

Left eye burned down her boyfriend's house between the first and second albums.

I found Fan Mail to be something of a let down after CrazySexyCool.

They had to file for bankruptcy thanks to that cunt Pebbles and renegotiate their contract with LaFace Records during this time. It was worth the wait. Fanmail is their best album IMO with only two shitty songs.

"Left eye burned down her boyfriend's house between the first and second albums."

True. But they were still dealing with the legal ramifications. It took a while to work everything out in the courts. Plus, Wiki says that their bankruptcy post-CSC was partly due to Left Eye's payments arising from the arson.

I remember after the third album came out Left Eye was unhappy that she had very little to do on the songs that made the album that she issued a statement that she couldn't fully support Fanmail and later challenged T boz and Chilli for all 3 to make solo albums to determine who was the best in the group.

They were busy on the Crazy part of SexyCool.

I loved the last song they did in 2017 with Snoop Dogg.

I never cared much for Left Eye's rapping anyway. So nasally and kept repeating the same shit.

Left Eye was cute but she really did just repeat herself.

CrazySexyCool is such a blast from the past. I was a sophomore in college. I still like some of the songs, though none of them were great singers. It's classic 90s R&B/hip-hop/pop crossover. Hip-pop??

I liked the big singles - especially Red Light Special, but I never liked Waterfalls, which is many people's favorite TLC song.

When I was a kid I thought they were saying “Dont go Jason Waterfalls”, so I assumed they were singing about a guy named Jason

I never cared for Waterfalls, which caused many arguments.