The Pop Corporation

Ranking things is such a pointless and ugly endeavour. However, it is not beneath us to be either of those things in a futile bid to create some false engagement while people disagree or agree with you. With that, we’re not going to rank every Tiny Desk concert from the lovely folks at NPR, because we’d be here all week.

We’re going to list some of our favourites though and whether you agree or not, rest assured that by the time we press ‘publish’ on this damned thing, our minds could well have changed. Or not. We know our all-time favourite and that’s immovable.

The history of the Tiny Desk Concerts is a pretty interesting one. Starting in 2008 and the brainchild of Bob Boilen who hosts ‘All Songs Considered’, the gig began after Boilen and NPR Music editor Stephen Thompson exited SXSW miffed that they couldn’t hear the bands over the sound of crowd chatter. Thompson joked that folkie Laura Gibson should just perform sat at Boilen’s desk. A lightbulb went off and Boilen arranged for Gibson to do exactly that, the result posted online.

Interestingly, the name doesn’t come from Boilen’s literal desk, but rather, a band he was in (psychedelic dance from the ’70s, apparently) called Tiny Desk Unit. We’re obviously going to check them out now, if possible. Any way, enough of all that – let’s look at our favourite NPR Tiny Desk Concerts and feel free to tell us how right or wrong we are.

Please note: we’re not going to include the At Home version of these videos, because we think a list like this needs some pointless rules, and our rule is ‘if it doesn’t feature someone at a tiny desk, it doesn’t get included on this list’. If it did, Hayley Williams’ and Young Thug would have appeared.

BIG BOI

Look, it’s Big Boi from Outkast. The man could turn up, flash those veneers of his and talk about how much he likes Kate Bush, not have a single note play and walk off stage left, and it’d still be fantastic. As it happens, this was brilliant.

SNAIL MAIL

Tiny Desk has had its share of jangly three-piece bands (probably) but few are as great as Snail Mail. Aside from the fact you find yourself thinking “imagine writing songs this good while you’re still a teenager!!!”, Lindsey Jordan absolutely smashed her performance and if there’s any criticism, we would have liked a couple more songs.

SWV

We love SWV, so it was such a lovely surprise to see them randomly show up at the Tiny Desk. In fine voice and singing the hits, one of the real bits of joy in all of this is the voices that appear from behind the camera, with a good chunk of the NPR crew clearly big fans of one of the finest ’90s R&B groups to do it.

BOOKER T JONES

I mean, what is there to say about the leader of Booker T & The MGs that you don’t already know? What made this particular set so great was hearing Booker T play without a band, and the compositions still popped and crackled with rhythm. How wonderful to see those hands at work, doing what they do best.

ARBOREA

Straight out of Maine, Arborea made some of the most effecting and other-wordly psychedelic folk LPs of their generation. Criminally slept on by many, but clearly not all, garnering an invite to play at set of songs at the most famous desk in music. A hypnotic performance that is every bit as spellbinding as it was when it first aired.

KURT WAGNER

An early video this, hailing from 2008 and featuring the brilliant head honcho from Lambchop, Kurt Wagner. This video is a beautiful moment capturing Wagner’s wonderful storytelling, but it also shows how slick and big the concerts have come since their humble beginnings. They’re still great, but this is a lovely moment which signposted what was to come.

Coming on strong like Sam Cooke reborn, Raphael Saadiq’s first set at the desk was an absolute masterclass in all things soul. The embodiment of all things R&B, this clip caught Saadiq in especially fine form and while Tiny Desk used to be criticised for focusing on hipster folk et al, this early cut shows that this wasn’t the case.

THE CRANBERRIES

Away from ‘Zombie’, The Cranberries were a melodic, folk adjacent group who made some of the most gorgeous kitchen-sink dramas of the ’90s. Stripped down to the bare bones, the Tiny Desk show was perfect for songs like ‘Linger’ and ‘Ode To My Family’. A fabulous performance.

ANGÉLIQUE KIDJO

Sublime polyrhythms and killer African funk, Kidjo makes some of the finest music on the planet. Her and her band set up on a special occasion too, so what better way to celebrate your 1,000th Tiny Desk than Kidjo’s divine energy? An absolute show-stopper of a set that deserves all the love and praise.

ANDERSON PAAK

Anderson Paak and the Free Nationals were already making a big name for themselves, but there’s something about their NPR performance that feels like it tipped them over the edge and out of the R&B world and into headliner material. Every member absolutely cooks and with Paak drumming and singing, it was clear that they had an abundance of talent and more.

CHAKA KHAN

You might think there’s a little recency bias on this, but for the love of god, it’s Chaka Khan! It was always going to be one of the best. In fine voice and with a smokin’ band, she rattles through the hits and seems to be having the time of it. For someone of Chaka’s stature to play a show like this, you feel blessed as a viewer – so you can only begin to imagine what it must’ve felt like it you were actually there in person!

THUNDERCAT

R&B jazz fusion time with the mighty Thundercat who feels like an artist absolutely designed to play at the Tiny Desk. He’s internet savvy, a dork and unbelievably gifted on the bass, his songs floated around the NPR office and it’s a wonder how anyone got any work done in there for a solid month after he’d finished. Magical stuff.

USHER

Usher’s performance was so filled with joy that he literally went viral because of it. Smoother than butter, he slid through the DMs of everyone in earshot and rolled through his back catalogue with a silky ease that showed off why he’d been in the game for so long. Even the mild over-sincerity of his mid-song patter was adorable. The man is one of R&B’s greatest and this did his legacy no harm at all.

MAC MILLER

Mac Miller’s performance at the Tiny Desk was sadly, one of the last things he did – but what a genuinely fabulous performance. Whether you were a fan or not, it was impossible to not be completely won over by what happened at the NPR office. The last song on this video is, without doubt, one of the finest live recorded moments in recent memory.

TANK AND THE BANGAS

Occasionally, a band appears on Tiny Desk and completely captures everyone’s everyone’s hearts. Tank and the Bangas were an immediate sensation and when social media was still social, the channels were lit up with everyone yelling “DID YOU SEE THIS?!” It is regrettable that this performance didn’t turn them into household names, but sure enough, their Tiny Desk set is still the stuff of legend and still overflows with absolute joy watching it now.

BEST EVER TINY DESK: T-PAIN

If ever someone needed their flowers, it was the mighty T-Pain. Those who already love him will need no encouragement, but we all know that T-Pain was unfairly tarred and feathered for his use of AutoTune, with Usher coming out of an anecdote on a documentary looking like a total turnip (even though we love him and featured him earlier). Anyone with half-a-brain knew that T-Pain was a great singer and was using AutoTune as a fun effect, but his Tiny Desk proved it to the detractors. More than this, it showed his humour and self-deprecating goodness, and hands down, is the most iconic and brilliant showcase of everything the man is. A wonderful clip that captured lightning in a bottle. Perfection!