In 2017, I bought a used car—a 2007 Volvo S40. After years of sharing cars with siblings (or simply not having one at all during college) it was the first car that was 100% mine. It was a decade old, it had 101,000 miles on it, and it cost $6,000.
If you know anything about cars, you may be thinking to yourself that a high-milage, budget-model European car was a risky choice for a recent college graduate without any money. You would be correct. The car was a huge headache. I never cared.
I personally fixed the AC compressor almost immediately after buying it. I had the starter motor replaced at one point. One winter my brakes went out and, while waiting for my appointment to spend four figures I did not have on new brakes, I commuted to and from work with a “BRAKE FAILURE - STOP SAFELY” message on the dash. (Don’t worry, I didn’t drive it like that on the highway.) But the breaking point in my relationship to the car was, ironically, not the brakes: A tire exploded while I was driving on I-75 just outside of Dayton. I replaced it but it was a wakeup call that my love affair had run its course. I bought a boring, reliable, adult car.
Volvos are quirky vehicles with a personality. (Or at least they used to be.) It’s why I bought it in the first place. But my Volvo came bundled with extra personality. Not long after buying the car, while playing around with the seats, I discovered that the previous owner had left a book of CDs underneath the driver’s seat, and had gotten wedged so far under there that the dealership hadn’t found it.
I don’t know anything about the previous owner, of course. And yet I feel like I know a lot about them. Look through any stranger’s 26-disc music collection, apparently built predominantly in the early 2000s, and you can learn a lot. I found this person’s music collection fascinating, so on the occasion of me finally getting it towed out of my garage after sitting dead for several years (oops!) I’m going to break down the CDs I Found In My 2007 Volvo S40.
If this internet message-in-a-bottle somehow finds the original owner of my Volvo and they want their CDs back, email me. Seriously. I’ll mail them to you. spencertuckerman at gmail.
1. Adele––25 (burned)
Eight discs in this collection are CD-Rs. I’m very familiar with this technology as someone who spent the mid-2000s playing with computers and the late 2000s in cars without aux ports. Burned CDs have character. In 2025 they’ve been replaced by playlists, which—aside from lacking the tactile experience—actually do replicate the phenomenon pretty well. A rare W for the digital era.
Anyway, this disc is unique because it’s so new. Adele’s 25 was released about a year before this person sold their car to the dealership where I bought it. Pretty good album!
2. A Perfect Circle—Mer de Noms 3. A Perfect Circle—Thirteenth Step
I’m gonna keep it real: I have never heard of this band in my life, which is only noteworthy relative to the other artists in this collection, each of whom I can name several songs by. I listened to A Perfect Circle’s music on Apple Music and I did not like it. My apologies to the “American rock supergroup formed in Los Angeles, California in 1999.”
4. Sia—Some People Have Real Problems
I am familiar with Sia from her hit “Chandeliers,” her weird hair situation, and the Chance the Rapper lyric on “Ultralight Beam.” I have never heard anything from this album, thought the art on the disc is cool.
5. Unknown (Blank CD)
6. Petey Pablo—Diary of a Sinner: 1st Entry
Owning a physical copy of a pre-”Freak-a-Leek” Petey Pablo album indicates strong character.
7. Alanis Morissette—Jagged Little Pill
No quips here, this one’s a classic. Seventeen million Americans own this album.
8. NSYNC—No Strings Attached
This CD is now 25 years old. They don’t make boy bands like they used to.
9. Unknown—Blank CD
10. The White Stripes—Icky Thump (burned)
Confession: Never been a White Stripes fan! I’m familiar with this album, though. It’s their finale and their best seller.
11. The Prince of Egypt (soundtrack)
Now we’re cooking with gas. Great movie. Great soundtrack. It’s hard to imagine a time when DreamWorks could bring together Hans Zimmer, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, and Boyz II Men for an animated movie about Moses.
12. Tommy Boy (soundtrack)
This one is more confusing.
13. NSYNC—Celebrity
This one’s NSYNC’s final album, and it’s not hard to understand why. The lead single fall-off from “Bye Bye Bye” to “Pop” is… precipitous.
14. The White Stripes—Self-Titled (burned