Bruce told this story in many of his Darkness tour concerts. This particular quote is taken from the legendery Passaic, NJ, concert from 9-19-1978.
"There was this Robert Mitchum movie... it was about these moonshine runners down South... I never saw the movie, I only saw the poster in the lobby in the theatre... I took the title and I wrote this song... I didn't think that there was ever a place that was like what I wrote this song about, I didn't know if there was or not... We were out in the desert, over in the summertime, driving to Nevada, and we came upon this house on the side of the road that this Indian had built... had a big picture of Geronimo upfront... said 'Landlord' over the top... had this big sign said "This is a land of peace, love, justice and no mercy"... and it pointed down this little dirt road that said 'Thunder Road'"