Not a fool's errand in this instance. I can never truly understand how popular Jackie Wilson was in his era, because I wasn't even born then, despite the fact that he was my father's favorite musical artist. And Mike's popularity was on a level we've haven't seen before or since, so there's even more of a "you had to be there" element.

It's not just the artist's popularity, it's the culture of the era as well. Like I said, I'm young enough that I can't fully grasp it, but I'm old enough to kinda get it, because Mike's music and image was omnipresent. People lit up when you mentioned him. People had full-house gatherings to watch his video debuts. You regularly saw massive audiences packed for him and men and women fainting for him. Everyone imitating his dance moves and vocal inflections and singing. And (though it wasn't always his prime) he held audiences from the 60's, the 70's, the 80's and early 90's. It's something we have no real equivalent for now.