Production
Jackson began work on the audiobook of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in June 1982—around the same time he began recording his sixth studio album Thriller. Quincy Jones served as the producer for both projects, in addition to working as the narrative writer for the audiobook. During the recording of the narration, Jackson became so upset when E.T. died that he wept. Jones and Spielberg both felt that trying to record the part again would not change the pop star's emotional reaction, and decided to leave Jackson's crying in the finished recording. Jackson biographer Lisa D. Campbell wrote that Jones had learned this during the recording of "She's Out of My Life" (from the Off the Wall album), where the singer also broke down in tears.
Several of the contributors to the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial storybook album had worked with Jackson on his solo projects in the past. Rod Temperton, who had written several songs featured on Off the Wall and Thriller, wrote the music for "Someone in the Dark". Freddy DeMann and Ron Weisner, former managers of The Jacksons, served as the production coordinators for the album. Bruce Swedien engineered E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, a task he had performed on Off the Wall and Thriller and would go on to perform for the albums Bad (1987) and Dangerous (1991). Dick Zimmerman photographed Jackson for the Thriller album cover, before again capturing the singer for the accompanying poster to the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial album.
Once the recording and engineering aspects of production had been completed, MCA Records (the distributor of the album) pressed more than 1 million copies of the audiobook. In 1982, a journalist for Billboard wrote that it was one of the "most ambitious" projects that MCA Records had taken on to date.
Read more about this topic: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (album)
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