Millions of words have been written about the Beach Boys since the five founding members of the group — originally known as the Pendletones — made their first studio recordings of “Surfin’” and “Surfin’ Safari” in 1961. With the exception of a few liner notes, none of those millions of words has been written by founding member Mike Love, co-writer of most of the Beach Boys’ biggest hits and the group’s most recognizable lead vocalist.

Not until this month. Love’s autobiography, “Good Vibrations: My Life as a Beach Boy,” hits bookstores on the 13th.

“It’s my chance to tell my story from my point of view of the Beach Boys as one whose been there since before the Beach Boys began. We were just a bunch of cousins and friends hanging out (and) singing those harmonies that we’re known for,” Love said last week, calling Hawaii from a tour stop and sounding as relaxed and laid-back as always. The Beach Boys’ “50 Years of Good Vibrations” tour began at the end of April and will continue into next year.

Love said he’s covering the “highlights and the not-such-great things as well” in the Beach Boys’ 55-year history. Among the “not such great things” was the occasion when Love sued his cousin and fellow Beach Boy Brian Wilson to clean up problems that went back to the early 1960s when the cousins were new to the music business. At the time, Brian Wilson’s father, Murry Wilson, was managing the group and also handling their publishing business.

“When we started I didn’t even know what publishing meant or was,” Love said. “I was very naive, and in fact when people ask me what would I tell persons who are just starting out and have aspirations in the music field, I always say, ‘Get educated. Know the value of publishing and music. Educate yourself to the practical aspects of it.’

“In my case, I trusted my cousin and my uncle to do what was proper to do, and what happened was I wasn’t included on many of the songs that I wrote with my cousin Brian.”

The Beach Boys had fired Murry as their manager in 1964, but he continued to run their publishing company until he sold it without their prior knowledge or consent in 1969; he died in 1973.

Meanwhile, Brian Wilson’s struggles with mental illness — and with food, drug and alcohol addiction — reached a point where he was put into a conservatorship to protect himself in both his personal life and his professional life. Decisions regarding his business interests were made by an attorney. Love said that left him with one option.

“Brian wanted to rectify those omissions that were started by my uncle — his father — but he was unable to do so,” Love said. “So the only recourse I had was to go to trial and to establish my authorship. Which I did.

“It’s just an unfortunate thing that happened, and the saving grace is for me that my cousin Brian wanted to rectify it, but he was unable to because he was in the conservatorship. He actually called me and told me so on more than one occasion.”

Love and the Beach Boys return to Honolulu this weekend for a one-nighter at the Blaisdell Concert Hall on Saturday. In addition to the publication of his book, Love is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the release of the Beach Boys’ Top 2 single “Barbara Ann,” the release of the group’s precedent-setting “Pet Sounds” album, and the release in October 1966 of “Good Vibrations,” the revolutionary song that changed everything for them.

“‘Good Vibrations’ was the most successful single record of our career in the ’60s, surpassed only by ‘Kokomo’ in 1988,” Love said.

He admits to having had mixed feelings when he heard the final mix of the song that Brian had spent eight months and somewhere between $50,000 and $75,000 assembling (a cost equivalent of $360,000 to $550,000 today).

“The track was so unique, so different from the type of songs that we had come out with — ‘California Girls’ and ‘I Get Around’ and ‘Fun, Fun, Fun’ and ‘Surfin’ U.S.A’ and all the things we were known for — so avant-garde, that I didn’t really have any clear idea of how well it would do,” he said.

“Good Vibrations” did very well, as it turned out. It became the third Beach Boys single to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also their first RIAA-certified gold single, with sales of more than 1 million copies.

Up until the time “Good Vibrations” came out, Love could usually tell when a new song was going to be a hit. The group would do what he refers to as “marketing research” by making an acetate of an upcoming release — an acetate was a type of record that was good for only a few plays — and checking out how it sounded on car radio speakers.

“That’s how so many millions of people got their music: listening to the Top 40 stations on their car radios,” Love said.

Most Beach Boys fans know that Brian Wilson in particular was influenced by the multipart vocal harmonies of pop groups like the Four Freshmen. Love says that he and the others were also inspired by the Everly Brothers — “the blend of the Everly Brothers’ voices was fantastic” — and Chuck Berry — “the syncopation of the way he wrote his lyrics.”

However, when it comes to his own instantly recognizable voice, Love says he never consciously patterned his singing style after anybody.

“It’s just the way I sound,” he said. “I don’t view myself as a being a great singer, but I’m very earnest. I really get into it in that one range that I’m mostly known for, but it’s just the way I sound. I also really loved to sing the bass part on ‘In My Room’ and ‘Surfer Girl’ and ‘Don’t Worry Baby’ when Brian was singing lead — and of course ‘Kokomo’ is a different lead voice than ‘Surfin’ U.S.A.’”

As for why Love and fellow Beach Boy Bruce Johnston, a member of the group since 1965, continue to tour, he says it’s simple.

“The audience response energizes us. It’s unbelievable how positive the audience response is for the Beach Boys’ music, and that’s a continual inspiration year after year, night after night.”