Ha, yes, I am not knocking 80s music but rather the weird "digital wank" (I believe this how David referred to it) that emerged from the new technology and production. Often the songs themselves were great, it was the drum machines and horrid almost metallic clanking laid over the whole thing. Here's one of my favorite examples of 80s wank:

Now, this stuff pissed me off because I was a fan of Robert Palmer. His 1970s records were fantastic. This record sounds horrid. Nothing wrong with the songs themselves but holy shit this sounds horribly annoying. I kept thinking Palmer listened to playback of this and thought this sounded alright? This guy made records with the guys from Little Feat and was OK with this?

It was the sound of the time I guess. It is like nails on a chalkboard to me though. 

Some old high school buddies managed to relocate me about a year or so ago. We've met on a several occasions. Music comes up and they start naming off a bunch of bands I have not really heard since the 1980s many of which I did not even know still existed. The Alarm and Smithereens being two of them. They want to go out to see them play. 

I have softened toward a lot of 1980s stuff mainly because it seems a lot more musical to me than many things that are current hits. On a lot of new songs I am not even sure there is a single musician. I am fairly certain musically it is all done on a computer. 

I have good memories of Men at Work. I recall a long drive up into the White Mountains when a good friend played a Men at Work record for me in the car...on cassette tape. They were not exactly my thing but in that time and space it all worked.