It's hard to do by changing a colour globally because you get confounding effects from other controls.
Changing the background colour of a list box to match a given state, like inactive or disabled can be approached by getting a plain-vanilla list box template like this one...
<Style x:Key="{x:Type ListBox}" TargetType="ListBox">
<Setter Property="SnapsToDevicePixels" Value="true" />
<Setter Property="OverridesDefaultStyle" Value="true" />
<Setter Property="ScrollViewer.HorizontalScrollBarVisibility" Value="Auto" />
<Setter Property="ScrollViewer.VerticalScrollBarVisibility" Value="Auto" />
<Setter Property="ScrollViewer.CanContentScroll" Value="true" />
<Setter Property="MinWidth" Value="120" />
<Setter Property="MinHeight" Value="95" />
<Setter Property="Template">
<Setter.Value>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="ListBox">
<Border Name="Border" BorderThickness="1" CornerRadius="2">
<Border.Background>
<SolidColorBrush Color="{StaticResource ControlLightColor}" />
</Border.Background>
<Border.BorderBrush>
<SolidColorBrush Color="{StaticResource BorderMediumColor}" />
</Border.BorderBrush>
<ScrollViewer Margin="0" Focusable="false">
<StackPanel Margin="2" IsItemsHost="True" />
</ScrollViewer>
</Border>
<ControlTemplate.Triggers>
<Trigger Property="IsEnabled" Value="false">
<Setter TargetName="Border" Property="Background">
<Setter.Value>
<SolidColorBrush Color="{StaticResource DisabledControlLightColor}" />
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
<Setter TargetName="Border" Property="BorderBrush">
<Setter.Value>
<SolidColorBrush Color="{DynamicResource DisabledBorderLightColor}" />
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
</Trigger>
<Trigger Property="IsGrouping" Value="true">
<Setter Property="ScrollViewer.CanContentScroll" Value="false" />
</Trigger>
</ControlTemplate.Triggers>
</ControlTemplate>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
</Style>
<Style x:Key="{x:Type ListBoxItem}" TargetType="ListBoxItem">
<Setter Property="SnapsToDevicePixels" Value="true" />
<Setter Property="OverridesDefaultStyle" Value="true" />
<Setter Property="Template">
<Setter.Value>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="ListBoxItem">
<Border x:Name="Border" Padding="2" SnapsToDevicePixels="true">
<Border.Background>
<SolidColorBrush Color="Transparent" />
</Border.Background>
<VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups>
<VisualStateGroup x:Name="SelectionStates">
<VisualState x:Name="Unselected" />
<VisualState x:Name="Selected">
<Storyboard>
<ColorAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetName="Border"
Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Panel.Background).(SolidColorBrush.Color)">
<EasingColorKeyFrame KeyTime="0"
Value="{StaticResource SelectedBackgroundColor}" />
</ColorAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
</Storyboard>
</VisualState>
<VisualState x:Name="SelectedUnfocused">
<Storyboard>
<ColorAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetName="Border"
Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Panel.Background).(SolidColorBrush.Color)">
<EasingColorKeyFrame KeyTime="0"
Value="{StaticResource SelectedUnfocusedColor}" />
</ColorAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
</Storyboard>
</VisualState>
</VisualStateGroup>
</VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups>
<ContentPresenter />
</Border>
</ControlTemplate>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
</Style>
...and adding it to your window resources. Note that the template refers to a set of colours which get defined further up the object graph as...
<Color x:Key="DisabledControlLightColor">#FFE8EDF9</Color>
<Color x:Key="DisabledControlDarkColor">#FFC5CBF9</Color>
<Color x:Key="DisabledForegroundColor">#FF888888</Color>
<Color x:Key="ControlLightColor">White</Color>
<Color x:Key="ControlMediumColor">#FF7381F9</Color>
<Color x:Key="ControlDarkColor">#FF211AA9</Color>
<Color x:Key="BorderLightColor">#FFCCCCCC</Color>
<Color x:Key="BorderMediumColor">#FF888888</Color>
<Color x:Key="BorderDarkColor">#FF444444</Color>
<Color x:Key="SelectedBackgroundColor">#FFC5CBF9</Color>
<Color x:Key="SelectedUnfocusedColor">#FFDDDDDD</Color>
... these can be replaced with the WPF value for Transparent, which is #00FFFFFF. This will change ALL colours to transparent where ever the references exist in the template. The StoryBoard colours refer to system colours and will need to be changed individually. Or delete the story boards altogether.
Once you get a working model for your desired styling you can add a key to the resource and style list boxes selectively.
As posted, this all compiled and ran clean under 4.5...
Interesting links are...
ListBox Styles and Templates
Color values
And a very useful utility for inspecting templates in the WPF dll's: http://www.sellsbrothers.com/tools/ShowMeTheTemplate.zip
