Let's face it: rock music in America is not in a very good position. American rock fans and rock musicians are pretty well aware of this at this point. Very few rock bands and virtually no unknown rock bands get played on American radio stations, apart from a few niche stations like college radio stations, which makes it very difficult for rock to compete with other genres like pop, hip-hop/rap, electronic and country. It's not just radio where this divide is evident. If you looked at the American music charts recently, you will have noticed that hardly any rock bands regularly appear in the charts and they rarely ever top the charts.

Music award shows like the Grammys, the American Music Awards, and the iHeartRadio Music Awards are also solely dominated by pop, hip-hop/rap, electronic and country. Another thing to acknowledge is that most rock bands (whether they're American or foreign) can't really play big venues in the U.S., even if they are hugely popular and can sell out stadiums anywhere else in the world. Apart from older bands playing huge reunion tours in arenas, the biggest concert venues that other rock bands can play in the U.S. are just for around a couple thousand people. There are still great places to enjoy rock and roll in America like independent record stores, local music venues and music festivals like Lollapalooza, Coachella, Bonnaroo, SXSW and more. However, it's still tough being a fan of rock music in America when it gets largely ignored by the mainstream population and media.

Some might say that it's a good sign that rock isn't a part of the American mainstream like Julian Casablancas (of New York rock band, The Strokes) who says that "nothing mainstream is relevant." Of course, there's so much garbage in today's music and culture that it's hard to disagree with Casablancas, but there is, in fact, a magical place where rock music does get the proper love it deserves. That magical place is in the U.K. Sure, it may not be in the mainstream completely, but rock and roll is definitely higher up on the totem pole of music than it is in America. So, here are seven reasons why the American rock scene should be jealous of the British rock scene.

1. There's more of a market for rock music in the U.K.

Bands in the U.K. generally do much better on the music charts than in the U.S. Sure they still don't dominate them, but rock bands (and new bands) actually have a chance to top the charts in the U.K. Recently, it was announced that British rock band The Last Shadow Puppets had hit No. 1 on the charts with its brilliant second album, "Everything You've Come To Expect." More established bands like Arctic Monkeys, Tame Impala and The Vaccines do very well on the charts in the U.K., and even younger bands like Catfish and the Bottlemen, Wolf Alice and Slaves have done well in the last few years.

2. It's a lot easier for great, new American bands to play shows in the U.K. than for great, new British bands to play shows in the U.S.

Publications like Louder Than War and The Quietus have reported horror stories of U.K. bands trying to play shows in the U.S. According to Louder Than War, it costs £5,000 (for visas) to get a British band to play in the U.S., where it costs an American band just £30 to play shows in the U.K. Also, British bands going to tour the U.S. almost always have to hand over their visas late meaning they will often have to scramble and sometimes will have to cancel flights or gigs completely. This means that many new British bands will pass on playing shows in America because they can't afford the price or the hassle, which is a shame because I know of so many great new British bands that I won't have the opportunity to see until I go to England myself. On the other hand, the U.K. has the opportunity to see new, up-and-coming American bands without any trouble for the bands at all.

3. It's easier for a rock band to conquer the U.K. because the country is way smaller, so it's easier to cover more ground

This reason seems rather obvious, but it's definitely true. There's really no such thing as American rock scene because the country is so big and instead there are regional scenes in specific places like New York, Seattle, L.A., Austin, etc. For a band to tour the entire U.S., it would take weeks or months to hit all the major cities, whereas in the U.K., hitting most of the major cities isn't really a huge time commitment.

4. A lot of big music publications in the U.K. are still backing rock bands unlike in the U.S.

Rolling Stone, America's best known music publication, has been drifting further and further away from its rock and roll roots in recent years. Now, it covers things like sports, movies, culture and politics in addition to music, which used to be its main emphasis. Also, in addition to its smaller focus on music, genres like pop, country and hip-hop seem to be the genres that it is most interested in covering. Most serious fans of rock music in America don't even pay attention to Rolling Stone any more for these reasons and due to the fact that its music reviews are a joke. Rolling Stone reviews albums on a five-star system (when it should be a 10-point system) and literally every album gets three or four stars, which shows its apprehension to go out on a limb and say that it either loves or hates an album. So, considering Rolling Stone and every other major American music publication like Billboard are not a viable options, that leaves American rock fans to choose between smaller, niche rock publications or foreign ones.

In the U.K., there are dozens of great, big music publications that still back rock and roll. Magazines like the NME, Q, Mojo and Uncut are all highly-respected, major publications that still heavily showcase rock and roll music. My favorites are NME and Q, which both even have their own award shows to highlight the great rock artists who are often ignored by big award shows like the Grammys, the Brits and more. One could even argue that NME is the world's best known, most historic music publication since it has been covering music since 1949 and was there to cover modern music's biggest phenomenons like the British Invasion in the '60s and Britpop in the '90s.

5. The BBC actually markets and plays both established rock music and new rock music

The BBC is a huge asset to the U.K. music scene. It has a music magazine, tons of radio stations, its own showcases at the world's biggest music festivals and much more. It not only plays music from famous, well-established rock groups, but it also has the guts to play new bands who are trying to get their music heard by as many people as possible. The BBC is a crucial way for U.K. bands to get their names out there quickly as opposed to American bands who struggle to get little, if any, air play on major radio stations.

6. U.K. music festivals, which still heavily showcase rock music, are among the biggest, most historic and best in the world.

Festivals like Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds, Isle of Wight, T in the Park and more are among the best music festivals in the world and they all still have mainly rock acts in their lineups. Glastonbury, especially, is probably the biggest, best-known music festival in the world. The three-day festival, which was founded in 1970, takes place at Worthy Farm and is known for its Pyramid Stage. It had an attendance last year of around 135,000 people and its headliners for each of the three nights are always the subject of rumors for months before the festival even takes place.

7. In the U.K., rock bands are able to play bigger venues that they wouldn't be able to play in the U.S.

In an interview conducted by The Seventh Hex with American rock band Sunflower Bean (who Rolling Stone called NYC's coolest young band), the band members commented on how they were amazed at the size of the venues that they (and other bands) were able to play in the U.K. (and Europe) as opposed to in the U.S. Guitarist Nick Kivlen said that a band with guitars who makes really interesting music has no chance of getting to a stadium level in America. They cited their U.K. support slot with The Vaccines as an example and said that they were so happy to see a rock band that could actually play a big venue like that.