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As a child I had all Tintin albums on LP or cassettes, and as far as I can remember the only one having any kind of intro music was The Calculus Affair. [Link removed]. It's in Swedish, but the intro music starts right away, so the spoken language is irrelevant.

I have two questions and I hope someone has an answer for me.

1: Why did this recording have intro music when none of the other adventures have any?

2: Was this music composed exclusively for this adventure or is it some kind of "stock music" (or is it possibly a well known piece of music)?
Moderator Note: Hi, and welcome! Unfortunately, we don't (and can't) allow links to material which has been pirated or released unofficially - it's to respect the rights of the copyright holder, and to safeguard the future of our site. We hope you understand. Hopefully someone who knows the recording you are talking about might be able to tell you anyway.

The Tintinologist Team

Having had a little search around the internet, I can now put forward a little theory - it's entirely speculation, but seems to make sense.

It looks to me like Det Hemliga Vapnet was the first release in the series (in 1971, on the Cupol label, with the catalogue number CLPL 1007).

It could be that there was feedback to say that the music wasn't liked - either from the public, or perhaps Studios Hergé - so that led to it being dropped from future releases.

But more likely is the possibility that to include it created an additional cost - and why eat into profit margins, when the music adds nothing at all to the story? My best guess is that they simply saw no need for it, and it was an idea that was dropped after the first record came out.