It depends on what your budget is and what you record onto. Id reccomend a Shure Sm57 straight away. Absolutely excellent microphone. Theres always a use for it and it can be used to record just about any instrument as well as vocals up to an OK level. Or you could get a Shure Sm58 but i'm not so much of a fan... always thought it recorded too much bass and just never really gave me the sound i wanted. It probably is better for vocals. Both of these microphones aren't particularly expensive.
If you've got like a mixer or something though that provides phantom power, then you should get a condenser microphone (cant really be bothered to explain the difference between a condenser microphone and a dynamic microphone. In this case, i don't really know what to reccomend because the choices are so vast. I think theres a Studio Projects B1 condenser mic that comes fairly cheap but if you want something more expensive then i don't really know what to reccomend because different microphones are for recording different things and you havn't really specified anything particular that you want to record.
If you're going to be recording directly onto a computer however, then id get a reasonable pre-amp, a shure sm57, a pop filter and a boom stand, all of which can be got for less than £150 (dont know what that is in dollars sorry)
Hope i was helpful.