One of my favorite drum songs…Fire by Jimi Hendrix.
“Would” by Alice in Chains.
Another vote for Stewart Copeland, even if it’s just an excuse to listen to some Police singles again. Listen to his work on ‘Message In A Bottle’ and ‘Rehumanize Yourself’, and I think you’ll have fun.
For something a little bit different, pay close attention to Ringo’s work on ‘Hello Goodbye’. It’s from the ‘It Shouldn’t Work But It Does’ drum school, lesson one: ‘Making it up as you go along’. But I find it quite beguiling.
Anything by Billy Cobham will provide much lasting joy and fascination.
Well as befitting my user name, let me mention Hal Blaine. Again, perhaps not a flashy as some of the big name drummer gods, but there is a reason he got hired again and again. Take a peak at his wiki page which lists just the #1s he played on. But I’ll throw out “Da Do Ron Ron” as an example of a song with sensational drumming which can be overlooked.
And in a related note, I’ll also throw out Al Jackson with Booker T and the MGs for rock solid brilliance. He can be found on pretty much everything put out by the Stax Volt label.
Listened and watched in person last night! What a blast that song was! I think the boys had a good time here last night, and Sting joined Elvis Costello for “Alison” . EC and the Imposters were amazing!
Let’s see
Toto’s “Roseanna” and Zep’s “Fool in the Rain,” both have great examples of monster grooving based on the Purdie Shuffle. Also, Tears for Fears “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.”
Sweet’s “Tempted” is a quintessential example of rock-solid straight-ahead simple drumming. Gilson Lavis leaves plenty of space for the for the bass to move underneath and keeps a perfect metromonic pulse going throughout. I also like Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” as another example of powerful, restrained drumming.
And, my favorite contemporary rock drummer, Matt Cameron. It’s hard to pick out just one song. Try “Wooden Jesus” from Temple of the Dog or anything by Soundgarden (like “My Wave” or “Jesus Christ Pose.”) He’s a perfect balance of power and subtlety. Wonderful use of dynamics and phrasing. Just a beautiful, musical drummer
The Who’s Keith Moon has been mentioned a couple of times, but IMHO the best examples of his in-your-face aggressive style would be I Can See For Miles and Happy Jack.
Don’t know why I forgot to mention this: Max Weinberg, Bruce Springsteen’s drummer in the E Street Band and musical director and drummer for Conan O’Brien has a series of CD’s on Rhino (I think) called **Let There Be Drums ** - they’re organized by decade and focused on rock / popular music…
Here is a link to Volume 1 on Amazon…
Fleetwood Mac - TUSK, and the version of Don’t Stop (Thinkin’ About Bill Clinton) with the college marching band percussion line, are both great standouts.
Paul Simon - I saw the title track from Rhythm of the Saints mentioned, but for me, The Obvious Child has to be the standout track on that album. The drum break in the middle is freaking AMAZING.
NIN - March of the Pigs and Piggy, both of which used a live drummer in addition to a drum machine.
I was a vocal percussionist (aka human beatbox) in my college a cappella group, and put together a “training” mix for freshmen who wanted to work on endurance or mixing bass noises with cymbals and snares in a rapid beat… if I can find the tracklist I’ll post it in this thread. I imagine it’s going to have a lot of the same things you’re looking for.
Santana
Sorry, I just thought that would be funny; a one word post. It could just as easily have been Allman Brothers.
I’ve been thinking about this for a couple of days and can’t think how to answer it in less than a thousand words or more. Probably the best thing is to give you this link <drummerworld> and let you find out for yourself who you like. Everyone mentioned so far can be found there with sound clips and videos for most of them.
Three I will mention are Matt Abts from Gov’t Mule, Yonrico Scott from Derek Trucks Band and Michael Travis from String Cheese Incident. All are good examples of great drummers that play to the song rather than to their ego.
From your Malmsteen comment, I wonder how you would feel about Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater, Liquid Tension Experiment, Transatlantic and others). I love his drumming but wonder if you would like it or think it excessive.
Despite that I still want to mention the Flower Kings (Swedish prog-rock band), Return To Forever (jazz-fusion), Alphonse Mouson, Omar Hakim, Manú Katche…
In the under-rated category we have (some already mentioned) Phil Ehart (Kansas), Ritchie Hayward (Little Feat), Paul Riddle (Marshall Tucker Band), Rod Morgenstein (Dixie Dregs and many others), Tommy Tucker (Eric Johnson) and Pierre Van Der Linden (Focus).
Anyone who ever worked with Steely Dan, Frank Zappa and/or Miles Davis has to be considered more than competent.
Definitely check out “No Action” and “Lipstick Vogue”, both on Elvis Costello’s “This Year’s Model”. The Attractions are probably one of the most underrated bands of all time, and Pete Thomas is a kick-ass drummer.
I like a lot of Hippy Hollow’s suggestions, but I’d substitute “Harborcoat” for “Bandwagon” by R.E.M.. Also, if you can find it, “Black And White” by The dB’s is great, and there are some cool drums on “Reoccurring Dreams” by Husker Du (now available for download at Amazon, though not on iTunes). Also, I think Tommy Ramone is often overlooked - he wasn’t technically great, but the speed he plays at on the floor tom in “Blitzkrieg Bop” is impressive.
Oh, I’d meant to comment on this, too - I used to love playing this one, as well. If you can, get the live version from Wide Awake In America - the drums stand out more on this version (and it’s just better overall than the studio version, anyway).
Damn, I’m going to be popping up in this thread a lot. Couple more:
“I Don’t Mind” by the Buzzcocks
“7 and 7 Is” by Love
wahoo - they actually have te eGene Krupa Drum Boogie from Ball of Fire, including the little bit at the end with matchsticks.
Some scattered ones that I don’t think have been mentioned:
Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley in just about anything, but of standout note are “Candle” and “Silver Rocket” from Daydream Nation
Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason also…Set the Controls, Time, ABitW, so much great stuff by him/
Masters of Reality tragically overlooked Sunrise on the Sufferbus album with Ginger Baker on “She got Me” and “T.U.S.A”
Jethro Tull’s first album This Was, with Clive Bunker. Wonderful bluesy/jazzy/scatty drums on that one, that actually managed to overshadow Ian Anderson 
The link looks interesting thanks. If I had been smart I would’ve just started a thread on awesome drumming clips, they’re great to listen to but so much better to watch 
I’ll check out Mike Portnoy too, I like a lot of variety in my playlists. I wish I had more time to respond to all the great recommendations but I’m suffering from mono right now (I thought I was too old for that) 
Time for some Miles Davis and a rare early bedtime.
I’m a big fan of great drummers myself. In addition to the many excellent suggestions here, I suggest picking a few drummers you really like and following their careers.
Killing Joke comes to mind. They have such a distinctive sound, very percussion-driven, that I can pick a Killing Joke song out of a lineup without ever having heard the song before. Dave Grohl played with Killing Joke for a stint, so there’s a great drummer worth tracking. KJ has had many drummers over the years; I tend to prefer the 80s stuff, but it’s all great.
Josh Freese is another one of my favorites. He’s worked with many many different bands, not the least of which have been A Perfect Circle and Nine Inch Nails. His discography at Wikipedia reads like a Who’s Who of Rock and Roll.