I dust my drums and I occasionaly shine up the chrome, but I let my cymbals develop the patina and I don't mind having nasty dirty heads, as long as they sound good. It's kinda silly, but I think it looks "cool" and "road-worn." It's just image (and I hate some of the brighter frequencies of my ride and I hope it'll get mellower).
I certainly wouldn't want any filth to get in the way of function tho, and I care about my drums - some *** recently scratched my BD with toms, if I knew who he was, I'd kick his ass, altough I am quite a peaceful person.
This goes for my treasured white oyster kit and my modern sonors. The red sparkle kit I have is dirty, with bad chrome, out of round and with lots of scratches and I haven't got to cleaning and restoring it yet and I use it as a "road kit," I don't mind if it gets some more dings and scratches, because I already bought it kinda beat up.