Not sure where this post is coming from, but recently I was thinking about all the music I drummed along to as a kid.  Whether it was my cassette "walkman" or my Sony Discman, I'd put on some headphones and play away for hours.  I'd argue that although some hearing loss may be involved, this technique is actually a good way of developing a good sense of time...  kind of like a metronome with guitars. 

Reading this last after writing it...  most of the albums are from the early nineties.  Prime high school years.  It's probably not a coincidence.

But anyway, here are the albums I recall drumming along to most often, in no particular order:

• Betty (1994) by Helmet.  If I had to put these albums in order, then this one would be number one.  I played this CD until the 1's and 0's came off.  John Stanier is the drummer.  Absolute monster volume grooves.  Snare cranked tight.  20-inch ride cymbals for crashes.   Stanier is probably my biggest drumming influence of all time.  Normally you hear Bonham and Peart in those types of sentences.  Well, they're in this list too.  Stanier's signature style can be found on tracks like Tic.  Vaccination was my fav tune. 
  
  
  
   
• Frizzle Fry (1990) by Primus.  Tim Alexander, the longtime Primus drummer, played drums on this album.  Arguably, after Frizzle Fry he never played the same.  Every Primus album with Tim after Frizzle Fry gets worse and worse, yet I kept buying their albums anyway.  But on this album, Tim's playing was unique.  In 1990, this music was just off the wall.  The groove on "Spegetti Western" is based on a quick floor-tom roll / bass drum double-kick combo throughout the entire song. 
  
  
  
  
  
• Down on the Upside (1996) by Soundgarden.  Matt Cameron is one of pop music's most underrated drummers.  He makes odd time feel like straight time.  The drums on this album sound really organic and un-processed, and the drumming is complex.  Cameron makes it all sound fluid and natural. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• "The Blue Album" (1995) by 311.  Chad Sexton is well known for the drum corps chops he brings to pop/rock music.  Who else plays an open double-stroke roll for a drum fill?!  There is a lot of very subtle ghost-stroke work Sexton does on the snare on this album, and to this day I copy a lot of it when I play.  This album also doesn't have a lot of complex drumming - just basic grooves.  That's also a style that I gravitate toward today.  Hive, Brodels, and T & P Combo were favorites.
  
  
  
    
• Grassroots (1994) by 311.   In contrast to The Blue Album, Grassroots isn't so simple.  It's a much more experimental rock-reggae mix with more difficult drumming.  Sexton's ghost-note work appears here as well.  What's fun about this album are the rock tunes crossed with Sexton's dancehall beats.  To me, its his signature style.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Meantime (1992) by Helmet.  This album is most true to Helmet's noise-rock roots.   Stanier's drumming is more technical and has more finesse on this album than on Betty, but is just as powerful.  This was one of the first albums I'd heard where odd-time was used in a non-prog-rock and non-metal context.  Unsung was the most popular track, but Ironhead was the real deal.
  
  
  
  
  
• Music (1993) by 311.  311's debut.  It's unrefined Sexton.  All in all this isn't one of my favorite albums in my library but I played along to it very often. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
   
• Dirty (1992) by Sonic Youth.  This was the first album I'd ever heard by Sonic Youth and immediately liked Steve Shelley's drumming.  I really enjoyed the contrast of noise and melody on this album and Shelley's approach to drumming in the open noise improvisational sections of songs.  His drum parts are unique and doesn't settle for the typical 1-2-3-4, even though their tunes are mostly based in 4/4.
  
  
  
  
  
• Permanent Waves (1980) by Rush.  What drummer (my age) hasn't played along to this album religiously?  This album doesn't really need any explanation.  Freewill.  Jacob's Ladder.  7/8 time.  Off-beat china hits. 
  
  
  
  
  
   
• Fair Warning (1981) by Van Halen.  This is really an "out-in-left-field" choice, but I truly did play along to this one.  I always felt it was Van Halen's heaviest album.  I was a huge Van Halen fan all throughout junior high.  While I've never thought that Alex Van Halen's drumming was anything special, I'm sure some of his playing has rubbed off on me somehow.  
  
  
  
  
  
   
• Houses of the Holy (1973) by Led Zeppelin.  As much as I loved playing the up-tempo stuff (Song Remains the Same, Over the Hills...), I most enjoyed playing along to No Quarter - the syrupy slow cymbals and creeping groove that Bonham played were awesome.  Somehow the drumming on that song left an impression on me.  Slow tunes were more difficult to play than you thought, and carefully placed accents became more prominent.