How do you judge the accuracy of historical records in relation to what the average views were?

by Baxiepie

What got me thinking was how future historians will look back on popular culture and interpret popular opinion vs recorded opinion. To use an example, if you were to use just the Wikipedia entry for Insane Clown Posse you'd think they were a widely respected award winning music group with a large following. Seeing as this generally isn't the common perception, how do you correct for that possibility when studying the past

TheGreenReaper7

By spreading as wide a net as possible and not making blanket statements based solely on one uncontextualised source.