Yes, they were.
At times, the 1980s were fucking awful. Today I listened to a podcast from NPR's All Songs Considered and they discussed this very question.
The panel's discussion of the cheeziness of Hall & Oates made me think of how "You Make My Dreams Come True" was used in Adam Sandler's The Wedding Singer. That soundtrack featured a wide range of 80s' smashes and trashes. Somehow, songs that are truly terrible when they're released accumulate stock in irony as the years go by, becoming a sort of touchstone that people can rally around, all in agreement of the vile nature of the song yet somehow, someway are able to enjoy it.
How else do you account for the popularity of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'"? No matter which way you slice it, that song is a total piece of garbage. The worst part is about it is the way it gets stuck in your head - "...belieeeeeiiiiivinn' Whoaaa--ooooo--ahhhhhhhhhh!!"
More key points in the podcast included mention of the cornerstone/bane of the 1980s studio, Yamaha's DX7 synthesizer. Still in use today, though used much more sparingly and as a "creative decision". Apparently even hardware can accumulate irony stock.
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