Joy Division’s debut album, Unknown Pleasures, was released on 15th June 1979 but was only an underground hit at the time. (The OCC says the original release peaked at #71 in the UK in August 1980 after the passing of the band’s lead singer, Ian Curtis.) Since then, however, its stature and importance has grown sharply and it is commonly cited as one of the best and most influential albums of all time.

Now, on its 40th anniversary, it is getting the sort of re-issue push one might associate with a Beatles album. Unknown Pleasures: Reimagined is the major part of the campaign whereby a video will be shot for each of the 10 tracks on the album.

Working with the three surviving members of the band, visual coordinator Warren Jackson commissioned 10 new films from a range of directors that will collectively offer a “filmic re-imagining of the music in 2019”. The directors involved include Lynne Ramsay, Vincent Moon, Todd Hido and Makato Nagahisa.

The videos themselves will be released throughout the rest of the year, with the first one – ‘I Remember Nothing’, directed by Hörður Sveinsson and Helgi Jóhannsson – coming out to coincide with the album’s anniversary.

There was also a premiere event at YouTube Space in London for a number of these videos where Matt Everitt spoke to Joy Division/New Order drummer Stephen Morris alongside Feargal Ward and Adrian Duncan (who directed one of the videos), as well as Orian Williams who produced Control, the 2007 Ian Curtis biopic.

In the band’s hometown of Manchester, a number of prominent buildings in the city centre had the album’s artwork projected onto them, giving the whole thing a real sense of occasion.

BBC station 6 Music also got heavily involved, dedicating an entire day to the album and its influence. For what is, in commercial terms, a cult album, to get this sort of focus on an anniversary is very unusual – but it was wonderful to see an album being celebrated so many years on and at a time where, arguably, its influence has never been greater.

The campaign saw Unknown Pleasures enter the UK album charts at #5 and it is the biggest-selling vinyl album of the year so far.