"It's the power of music, man! MY music to be exact." |
Baruch Cohen, better known as William Joseph "Billy Joe" McKing Cobra, is the supporting protagonist of the series. Prior to the series, Billy was a sensational pop star ghost, who still seems to be prominent even after his demise. In the series, he is a ghost, only visible to those who wear a personal item of his. His cause of death has not been disclosed.
He is the distant cousin of Jane Wright leading to how the Wright family inherited his mansion. It was mentioned in How to Impress the Ladies, and given how the relation system works, it is clear that Billy is Spencer and Jessica's cousin (quite a few times removed) and is valid that he is a distant relative to them moreover.
History[]
Billy Joe Cobra is an out-of-this-world pop star. While his fanbase may seem over-publicized and his music overrated, he definitely has the musical talent to back it up. As a pop star, he is talented in the vocal fields of singing and beatboxing, as well as capable of playing the guitar, the keytar, piano, and various other instruments as seen in the episode "Billy, Billy, Billy, Billy, Billy". He also appears to be a talented disc jockey and has been seen with mixtapes. He also appears to have went through a stint in acting, having starred in the movies Going Ape and Surfin' Brofari.
Billy, while alive in 2008
Spencer Wright, a professional-grade skeptic, greatly respects Billy's singing. Jonah Tyler Taylor, a modern pop star based on Justin Bieber, is a major fan of his as well, and says he's always been inspired by whom he calls the "greatest pop star of all time". (Billy, naturally, was very touched by the sentiment.)
Of course, not everybody loves the Cobra. Principal Ponzi calls him a joke, as well as uncreative, in "Cuckoo's Nest". A tourist in "Billy Joe Cobra Museum" called him a "hack that only knew two chords", in which Billy retorts that he actually knows three.
The cause of his death is unknown, and there are numerous fan theories about it. One of them states that he died from electrocution after he plugged his guitar into the wrong amplifier, as shown in one of his flashbacks in "Billy Joe the Scholar". Another possibility is that he was a victim of a drive-by shooting, as evidenced by the bullet holes in his tour bus that can be seen in many episodes.
Personality[]
Billy Joe is pretty well up on the hottie-scales and the popularity charts, and he knows it -- to the point of blatant narcissism. This, along with his other achievements, gives him a huge ego, good for the stroking. However, he can usually put his self-absorption aside if his bro is in danger or needs help. He also seems to be an understanding individual, being able to put personal grievances aside for important situations, such as an event where Spencer wanted to impress a girl. (Still, Billy doesn't seem to understand the concept of "tact".)
He isn't particularly street smart, since all his life people have been doing things in his stead and kissing up to him. As a result, he hasn't had much experience living as an ordinary person. He's also gullible, evidenced by his being fooled by Sam Hoover's disguises and getting hoodwinked into doing Spencer's homework for him. In addition, Billy is incredibly easily distracted and has a short attention span that only serves to get him and his homebods in trouble.
Despite this, he is shown to be relatively intelligent, and has surprisingly good memory. He knows some school material incredibly well because he has personal experience with the subjects covered, and completely understands Beverly Beverly celeb scene's unusual and convoluted social rules.
Billy is incredibly prone to throwing diva tantrums. He doesn't seem to regret them afterwards, suggesting that he is used to them and constantly had them while he was alive. This has caused several movie directors to despise him.
He seems to crave attention from Spencer (or just attention in general) and has a want to appease him. When scared, Billy clings to Spencer like a lifeline. Only Spencer can talk him into doing things like letting crazed tourists into his mansion or hanging out with a geeky, "unchill" ghost. In addition, Billy is always willing to make it up to Spencer whenever he wrongs him.
Interestingly, Billy doesn't seem to care much for anyone else. He accepts Rajeev and Shanilla (showing more respect for the latter) and enjoys hanging out with them, but he clearly prefers bro time with Spencer. In addition, Billy has no qualms with talking badly about people behind their back, or throwing Rajeev out of his house when Spencer decides to spend some time with just him. He also seems to think that Spencer can "do better", regarding things like bringing Rajeev as his guest to an award show.
In "Three's A Crowd", Rajeev was so easily close to Billy due to many favorable interests (favorite TV shows, jean shopping, salsa, etc.), but was hurting Spencer's relationship with Billy. The ghost failed to notice Spencer's jealous streak and attempts to separate them, showing his more oblivious side.
However, when all is said and done, Billy is a good friend to have. He'll do anything for his bro, and he's there, through thick and thin, for those he truly considers his friends.
Billy's Songs[]
See also: Songs.
Purportedly, many of his pop hits were about "girls, sunshine, big yachts, and money". However, nearly all of the songs we've seen were about Billy's narcissism.
- You Love Me, I Love Me More was covered by Jonah Tyler Taylor in "Phantom of the Popera".
- Bromazing, a song about how great Billy is, is partially heard in Billy's Achilles.
- Best Day Ever is known to be a song about "girls, sunshine, big yachts, and money", but it was never heard. Spencer and Billy teamed up to make a music video for it in Best Day Ever. He played a little bit in "Summertime Rules!"
- Billy sings Where Have I Been (All Your Life) in the YouTube short, "Walk This Way" when Spencer was trying to film a tour of his house, only to be cut off after mentioning Billy's studio. Excited, the ghost had whisked him away to it, announcing that it was where he had created many of his biggest hits (one of which was this song). Billy then performed it as Spencer good-naturedly rolls his eyes before being pulled into the recording area to join his cousin/best friend (and many of his clones, who acted as backup singers). .
- Get Out of My Face from "Billy, Billy, Billy, Billy, Billy". It was rediscovered by Spencer and Billy when they were playing around with some old CDs. It was then remixed by them (along with a music video edited by Spencer). It was one of the former pop-star's many songs spawned during the feud between him and fellow musician, Miss Blah Blah.
- In "Lolo In Love", Billy tries to help Rajeev make Lolo fall in love with him by teaching him The Song.
- Spencer's version and Rajeev's versions have different lyrics. Spencer's version is considered the "correct" version, while Rajeev's has been "tailored to his tastes".
Some songs have never been heard before but have been mentioned on the show:
- Billy Give You The Willies was mentioned in the episode, "House of Horrors". Spencer had used art inspired by the album of the same name to create the entrance to his haunted house.
- P.S. I Love Me, I'm Still In Love With Me, and I Am The Sunshine of My Life are all "BJC classics" mentioned in "Billy Joe Cobra Museum", but have never actually been heard.
- I Know You Are But What Am I? was named, but not heard, in the episode, "Billy Billy Billy Billy Billy". The intent of the song was to diss pop singer, Miss Blah Blah.
- Multiple songs came out to diss Miss Blah Blah, but they were never heard, nor displayed.
Cobraheads[]
Billy's fans are a force to be reckoned with. They, along with a few other things, annually gather on the 21st of an unspecified month in front of the Cobra Mansion to pay tribute to the anniversary of his first hit single, Loving You Is Easy. This continues even after his death.
Billy's adoring fans - many of them are pubescent girls.
- Jonah Tyler Taylor is a notable Cobrahead, having sang at least one BJC cover in his entire career.
- Madame X is also a Cobrahead, though her obsessive nature perhaps warrants a new fan category of its own.
- Naturally, the biggest Cobrahead out there is Billy Joe himself -- regardless of any challengers' opinions otherwise.
Abilities[]
Gallery
Click here to view the gallery.
Trivia[]
Billy Joe has a comprehensive list of grade-A primo babes.
- According to concept art of him, he was originally going to be called "Dirk".
- As seen in "Billy Joe's Last Fan", his favorite food is chunky peanut butter with the chunks taken out. This may or may not be regular smooth peanut butter. In "Axe Maniac" he did a whole impromptu product placement ad for smooth peanut butter, stating that "there's not a thing in the world you can't do with it."
- Billy also loves Jane Wright's triple fudge gut-busting lights-out brownies; enough that he's willing to eat the batter right from the bowl.
- In "The Substitute", it is revealed that one of his other favorite foods is bear claws.
- In "And The Winner Is...", it shows that one of Billy's least favorite foods is caviar. This doesn't stop him from trying to eat it.
- According to the official Spanish site's biography, Billy Joe Cobra was discovered as a musician at a televised talent show at the age of six. It is also stated that by age 19, he was already in a boy band, performed as a soloist, and wrote at least one book.[1]
- While the details of his death are never explained, he appears to have died young. The Spanish biography reveals that Billy was at least nineteen years old when he died.
- The van seen outside of Billy's mansion appears to have bullet holes in the driver's side. This could be evidence to a possible death.
- Billy has said that he's been a ghost for over a year. Considering the fact that Wendy was a baby when he died and was full grown when he got her back, he must have been dead for 5 to 10 years, or even more, by the events of "Where's Wendy". It's also possible, however, that the crocodile that was delivered to him was an accidental mixup, and the real Wendy is still a baby. It's also possible, due to Billy's general ignorance about nature and/or lack of interest in boring details, that Wendy isn't even a crocodile, but a dwarf caiman or similar creature. A dwarf caiman could be described as or mistaken for a "miniature crocodile" at any age, leaving Billy's ghost-age still unknown.
- The theory of the zoo having delivered the wrong Wendy seems supported by the fact that the Wendy in the show not only looked differently but behaved differently than Billy remembered.
- The scientific name of the dwarf caiman is P. palpeBROsus.
- The theory of the zoo having delivered the wrong Wendy seems supported by the fact that the Wendy in the show not only looked differently but behaved differently than Billy remembered.
- His favorite animal is a Unicorpoise, half unicorn and half porpoise. This may or may not be a narwhal.
- Billy is scared of horror movies; ironic, considering he's a real, live ghost. Billy is also scared of falling from great heights, which is a moot point since he can both phase through things and fly.
- He has never had gum before the events in "Billy Blob". Nor had he ever actually looked at a calendar with his own eyes. He usually had people do those things for him.
- Billy doesn't seem to think about being dead very often. He knows he's a ghost, realizes that he's dead (though he's sensitive about it when confronted with it), and understands how to be a ghost through and through, but when Spencer scolds him about his life-time contract with Tidy Ted, he initially doesn't understand what Spencer means.
- The character of Billy Joe Cobra is loosely based on Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong. He is both a punk-rock star and an actor (Billy starred in the movies, Going Ape and Surfin' Brofari while Billie had starred in his first movie, "Ordinary World" in 2016). This complements Spencer's comparison to Green Day's drummer Frank Wright.
- Interestingly, Frank Wright and Billie Joe Armstrong are just as close as Spencer and Billy are; both of them are godfathers to their respective bros' offspring.
Examining Hoover's trousers in case of incriminating evidence.
- Despite the fact that Billy and Madame X's relationship consists of Billy evading Madame X's capture, Billy cannot survive without Madame X. He is so narcissistic that part of his mental well-being depends on knowing that he has a crazed fan: one that would stop at nothing to have him for themselves.
- In "Billy Joe Cobra Museum", Billy says he knows three guitar chords, but can be seen playing at least five in various parts throughout the show.
- Billy's personal brand of cologne, known as Scent of a Cobra, is banned in thirty-six countries because it makes anyone who puts it on irresistible.
- So far, Billy has had himself made into at least a wax statue, a marble statue, a bronze statue, and a cardboard cutout. He's also been photographed on numerous occasions.
- It's very probable that he has a fear of bugs, because many times it's shown that he is afraid of many bugs (worms, ladybugs, spiders, etc). He is apparently afraid of nature, as shown in "The Blair Wright Project".
- It is possible that the "Cobra" part of his stage name was created after being told by his shaman that his spirit animal was a cobra, as mentioned in "The Blair Wright Project".
- Since moose don't normally inhabit deserts, where they would otherwise perish in the high temperatures that they aren't built for, the constant occurrence of the one in the same vicinity as the ghost may hint as him being Billy's true spirit animal.
- It could also be possible that the "Cobra" part of Billy's name was created before he met that shaman, who also might have been a conman going after his money.
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