Bitched slapped all the way to Rock and Roll Heaven.

One of my favorite all-time SNL bits was Tim Meadows on Weekend Update playing Ike. He'd slap Kevin Nealon and then apologize and explain how much he loved him. The best one was when Nealon ended up on the desk dancing to Proud Mary in a classic Tina Turner skirt.

Tim Meadows in a funny skit? I'd have to see it.

umm...Ladies' Man...hello?

Awww. That's too bad. In rememberance of the great Ike Turner, I think I'll go beat my wife.

He was an abuser, but he also invented rock and roll. I wonder if there's a connection.

The Ripsaw wanted me to interview him once. Too bad I was "really, really busy" that day. I don't remember who ended up doing it.

Nah, Ike didn't invent Rock and Roll. He had a hand in it, but wasn't the main, or first person to play it. Wynonie Harris' "Good Rockin' Tonight", for example was a good 1/2 decade before Ike

Holy Moly Barrett, I hope she was worth it!

Agreed. I wouldn't say he invented rock and roll but I do believe that he "invented" fuzz tone. It's fairly well established that, after ripping the cone on one of his amps bringing it into the studio before recording, that the accident resulted in that amp putting out the "fuzz" tone that has inspired millions.

This bit of history is presented as Keith Richards, the Beatles and Hendrix are all, typically, discussed as the firsts to use fuzz. Just for point of discussion I do think that the Beatles where the first to use fuzz with bass (Taxman).

I stand by my comment. I thought it was funny how he pronounced 'courvoisier' and thats about it.

New York Post headline:

"Ike "Beats" Tina to Death"

http://www.nypost.com/seven/12132007/news/nationalnews/ike_beats_tina_to_death_79527.htm

There are some minor veracity issues about the speaker cone story and even the first to use the fuzz tone. It is hard to parse the true chain of events (and perhaps the story is wholly true), but to at least mention the other stories out there...
"How Many More Years" by Howling Wolf, for example, was recorded in '51. And while this was not rock and roll (blues), it definitely had a very fuzzy guitar sound ("Moaning at Midnight " was also recorded then and something similar could be said for it) _and_ guess who played piano during those recording sessions? Ole Ike. Now, this sets up a nice pissing match as "Rocket 88" was also recorded in '51, no one can say for sure which came first, although Sam Phillips likes to credit "Rocket 88" Sam is also well known for, er, embellishing stories about the good old days.
Additionally there are a handful of other songs out there that predate 1951 altogether that serve as good primary R&R tunes, "Good rockin Tonight" is very Chuck Berry-ish in it's way, Fats Domino's "The Fat Man" is another that deserves consideration as does the Dominoes' "Sixty Second Man".
So, I don't know. As I said above he certainly played a big part in the emergence of Rock and Roll, perhaps, not as big as some claim, but big enough that he gets a considerable amount of deserved attention despite being a full blown asshole.