Today when I saw Ike Turner died I thought about his complicated life and his contribution to music and how that could go either way in his memorials. There is no way to extricate his musical success from his beating Tina Turner black and blue. The lead to his obit in the San Francisco Chronicle sums it up:

“Rhythm and blues pioneer Ike Turner, who died Wednesday at age 76 at his home outside San Diego, will be largely remembered as the abusive husband of soul queen Tina Turner, obscuring his crucial role in the birth of rock ‘n’ roll.”