Yes, they were. ;)
UFO's loomed large in the pop culture even before Close Encounters came out.
By late '77, everybody was trying to get on the Star Wars/Close Encounters bandwagon. I think even Kiss played up sci fi trappings in their stage act.
IIRC, Peter Frampton got in little bit of legal trouble for having Jawa lookalikes cavorting on stage in his concerts at the time.