E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (album) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (album) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is an audiobook and soundtrack album for the 1982 blockbuster film of the same name directed by Steven Spielberg. Narrated by American recording artist Michael Jackson and featuring music composed by John Williams, the album was produced by composer Quincy Jones and distributed by MCA Records. The production of the audiobook brought Jackson together with several former collaborators, such as Rod Temperton, Freddy DeMann, and Bruce Swedien. The "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" audiobook was released by MCA on November 7, 1982—the same month as Jackson's acclaimed sixth studio album "Thriller" despite conditions given by
Thriller (Michael Jackson album) leisure item—like a magazine, a toy, tickets to a hit movie—and started selling like a household staple". At the time of the album's release, a press statement from Gil Friesen, the then President of A&M Records, read that, "The whole industry has a stake in this success". "Time" magazine speculated that "the fallout from "Thriller" has given the [music] business its best years since the heady days of 1978, when it had an estimated total domestic revenue of $4.1 billion". "Time" summed up "Thriller"s impact as a "restoration of confidence" for an industry bordering on "the ruins of punk and